The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1

2012-01-26T09:34:00.000-05:00

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1
Script: Gene Luen Yang, Art: Gurihiru, 2012

New Release! I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley for purposes of review. (I read that one, and then went out the day it arrived in stores, bought a hard copy and read it again.)

Premise: The war is over, but bringing peace to the Four Nations isn't as simple as winning a battle. This is the continuing story of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

I LOVE THIS. I loved this to pieces. This made me laugh and gasp and cry aloud. I love these characters, and this is completely in tone with the series: funny and sweet and heartbreaking.

It even starts by devoting three pages to the voiceover that opened every episode of the series, so it dropped me immediately into the right mindset for this world. I can hear the voice actors in my head. If you haven't seen Avatar: The Last Airbender, GO DO THAT. And then when you get to the end and want more, you're in luck!

The Promise interweaves some of the character moments we saw at the end of the last episode into the start of a new story, in which Zuko and Aang struggle with the Fire Nation colonies that were established in the Earth Kingdom during the war. It becomes a difficult question: what is the best thing to do, for those people who live there and for the Nations as a whole? How long have they been there? Are they Fire Nation citizens? Earth Kingdom citizens? What about the Earth Kingdom people who are angry, who lost people in the war, who want every Firebender gone? There are no easy answers for the characters.

There are plenty of great character moments, from an early conversation between Aang and Zuko that introduces the core emotional plot and had me right by the heartstrings, to the sweet moments showing the development of Aang and Katara's relationship. Toph and Sokka meanwhile maintain the right amount of comic relief to keep the tone on balance. Plenty of characters get at least a cameo, but there are occasional subtle words or references to keep the reader on track in case you forget who someone is.

You know the next element that's needed for Avatar: action! And this doesn't disappoint. The fight scenes are gorgeous: clear, dynamic, and inventive.

The art is beautiful throughout, in fact. Mostly just true to the series, although I especially liked the addition of Aang's prayer beads containing all the symbols of the elements, that he apparently uses to talk to the previous Avatars. The design work on that was beautifully done, and there are little elements to the art that I only noticed on a second look, little details that just enhance the whole.

This is a medium-short graphic novel at 76 Pages.

Be warned, this ends in a cliffhanger! And I have to wait until MAY for Part 2? NO FAIR.

5 Stars - An Awesome Book

Watch Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon, DVD, or Netflix
Get Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Promise Part 1on Amazon.com, or your local comic shop

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #23, Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part One

2012-01-25T19:25:00.000-05:00

Only two buys today, and they are both quite good and quite different. Both new in stores on 1/25/12

American Vampire #23 (Death Race Part Two)
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Rafael Albuquerque, Colors: Dave McCaig

A good follow up to last issue, this issue continues to intercut the 'present' car chase with more pieces of backstory and more recent history. The flow works well; everything slots together quite nicely, while keeping the tension high. No surprise on the last-page reveal, despite the events of Ghost War. Travis is a great new character, and I'm excited to get the rest of his story soon.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part One
This is 75 pages long, pretty much a graphic novel. And it is AMAZING. It's getting its own post tomorrow.

The Big Time

2012-01-23T08:30:00.000-05:00

The Big Time
Fritz Leiber, 1957

Premise: What starts out as a usual day for The Place - rest stop for soldiers in the Change War - becomes much more dangerous as personalities, ideologies and plots clash between the soliders and the entertainers.

First of all, the prose here is fantastic. The narration is by Greta, once a "party girl" from Chicago, now separated from her time-line to be comfort and companion to those who fight in the Change War, which rages across all time and space. The dialogue is wonderful. The characters come from all different points in history, and speak polyglots of language from their own time mixed with slang picked up from others.

I'm less sold on the ending: the closing speeches are a bit silly to me, but the plot itself is very nice. The introduction of the edition I read compared it to a stage drama, and I would too: a collection of people come to a place under great stress, and begin to love and fight and argue, shifting alliances and dealing with interpersonal conflict.

The cast of characters is what makes the story zing along. There's Greta and the other Entertainers: Sid who runs the Place, Beau the pianist, Doc the drunk (every bar has a drunk, even those suspended in the Void), the other girls: Maud the therapist and cynic, Lili the young and romantic. Add to this three soldiers: Erich, brash, bossy and proud, Mark, broken and quiet, and Bruce, firey and young. Plus three more, rescued from near death, two non-humans and Kaby, an ancient amazon. And then there's a bomb and a mutiny. Sparks fly.

It's short, which is good, although it still comes to the edge of wearing out its premise. Despite a lackluster denoument, this is still a solid exploration of humanity in extremis.

3 Stars - A Good Book

List of Hugo Award Winners

Daughter of the Centaurs (Centuriad, #1)

2012-01-19T08:30:00.001-05:00

Daughter of the Centaurs (Centuriad, #1)
(K.K. Ross/Kate Klimo), 2012

New Release! I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for the purpose of review.

(NB: It looks like the author's name on the cover changed between when the review copies were released and the final book release?)

Premise: Malora wants to grow up to train horses like her father before her, but when disaster strikes their tiny settlement, she and the horses must learn to survive alone in the wild. That is, until she meets travellers from a city of centaurs, who are rather surprised that any humans still exist. Should she run the other way, or try to find a place in their society?

I have extremely mixed feelings about this book.

On the one hand, I like the main character. She's got a lot of heart and fire, and I found her moral and emotional struggles convincing. I liked quite a few of the supporting characters, and the two societies we see over the course of the story are both interesting.

On the other hand, I think the larger setting is flat-out stupid; more on that below. It's the sort of thing that might be saved by extremely clever explanation, but that explanation was not forthcoming in this volume. Overall, I was aggravated by the number of plot threads that were teased or foreshadowed and then not dealt with. I understand that this is book one of however many, but the plot climax for this book was fairly lacking. It didn't feel like it had any stakes, and the other players in the final conflict only appeared very late in the book. It didn't leave me interested in the next book, it left me wondering whether the author actually has a plan.

Now, all that said, I loved the early part of the book, about Malora living on the plains with her horses. It was a bit like a fantasy Island of the Blue Dolphins, and once it lost that, I never really connected with it again. I did mostly enjoy the rest of the read, but I thought it could have been so much better.

In order to explain this a little more, I'm going to have to give away a few things.
So, Spoilers Ahead for Setting and Foreshadowing.

Pretty far into the book, it becomes clear that this is in fact not a fantasy world, but a future Earth. With centaurs (and satyrs and other hybrid folks), but no obvious magic. I'm sorry, but I have a really hard time just accepting centaurs studying 'ancient' human literature (like Shakespeare and Danielle Steele) without a hair of a hint of an explanation how we got from here to there. We find out that Malora might be the last human (not buying it, even barring some mystical foreshadowing) and that the centaurs massacred many of the humans a few generations back. Now the centaurs have a sort of weird two-tiered society, split between the useless tight-laced aristocracy and the earthy, sometimes-violent peasants. It's obvious that changing this will be part of the plot, but it isn't yet there.

There's also a race of cat-people slaves, but there's no foreshadowing that this is going to change anytime soon. Have authors somehow not learned that you really shouldn't say that a race of sentient beings likes being servile? Can you say: creepy nasty undertones?

More things that frustrated me: There's no hint of explanation why centaur perfume somehow gives Malora clairvoyance or hallucinations. There's one chapter where the satyr scholar thinks about how Malora might be some sort of destined savior. We never see his point of view before or after that, and it doesn't come up again. I hated that chapter.

End Spoilers

I liked a lot of things about this book, and I understand that the characters don't know the answers to some of my questions, and that's why the reader isn't given any explanation. Understanding that, however, doesn't mean excusing how jarring many of those unexplained things were.

In the end, I can't give this the benefit of the doubt. I hope that there is some plan for these plot elements, but too little is revealed in this volume, so I'm giving this

2 Stars - An Okay Book

Find out more about Daughter of the Centaurs on Amazon.com

Comics Briefly: Batman #5, The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #2, Wonder Woman #5

2012-01-18T17:48:00.000-05:00

Favorite Issue This Week: The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #2

All Issues were new in stores on 1/18/12

NB: It has been noted, in my conversations with friends about comic books, that like all of us, I am affected by my introduction to comic books and comic book characters, and that affects the kind of stories and characters I expect and enjoy. So be advised, when I get cranky about the new DCU, it's largely because what I like best in DC-based stories are interactions between heroes that have some history and/or emotional weight, legacy characters, strong friendships and galactic-level Batman. And I'm not getting a lot of that. That doesn't mean the books are bad, but it means that I don't love them.

Batman #5
Writer: Scott Snyder, Pencils: Greg Capullo, Inks: Jonathan Glapion, Colors: FCO

There are some moments with Gordon and the extended Batclan that open and close this issue, and they are very sweet and well done (minus my feelings about one panel of Batgirl with serious anatomy issues), but the vast majority of this is Bruce stumbling around going crazy in the labyrinth of the Owls. This is decently done, but I really didn't need a whole issue of it. The 'quirky panel angle equating to mental instability' motif that I liked a couple issues back is taken a bit far; at one point you actually have to flip the entire book around, and I had to jump ahead to check whether the pages were just printed wrong. I don't know, I guess I'm losing traction on the whole secret society of evil whatever plot-line. I don't feel like anything has been actually revealed in issues and issues, and I just can't believe that this is a real conspiracy of whatever or a real threat. It's just a schmuck in a stupid helmet, Bruce, stop buying into the drugged hallucinations or whatever and just hit him, already!

The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #2
Writer: Tom Hutchison, Artist: Alisson Borges, Colorist: Kate Finnegan, THAT UGLY COVER ABOVE is by Nei Ruffino

Yes, I have the variant cover, and it's frankly hideous. It was the last copy at my favored comic shop, and I hate it. So when I tell you that the story and the art underneath that cover is ridiculously great, believe me. (There's still some cheesecake, and it's computer color-ish but it it's good.) I picked up the last issue on a whim a month or two back, and frankly, I'm just tickled by the premise. This is Wizard of Oz crossed with Gunslinger. We're being introduced to a whole new spin on these characters. Gale, and her horse Toto, have spent years trying to make their way across a blasted, lawless landscape, in search of the Emerald City. Somewhere along the way she picked up a pair of ruby spurs and the matching six-shooters. We met the Tin Man in Issue #1, he carries a badge, and in this issue we see the Witch of the West for the first time. Occasional direct references to the source material keep the tone from getting too dark, but I dig the old-time western mix of sardonic fatalism and grittiness in this world. This is a fairly small-press book, and I did spot a typo in this issue. However, I loved the introduction of the Scarecrow here. She seems awesome.

Here, I'll give you a pretty page from inside so you don't have to take my word on the art:

Dorothy finally gets to kick ass!

Wonder Woman #5
Writer: Brian Azzerello, Artist: Tony Atkins, Colorist: Matthew Wilson

Some decent moments here, but I am still not liking this story. (The less said about the stupid plot from last month, which I skipped writing about then, the better.) New artist this issue, and I like the style, except for the dead-doll eyes on Diana much of the time. Those are not helping me connect with this character. And then at the end I think there should be an awkward laugh track or sound effect or something because of the (unintentional? intentional?) silliness of the last panel. Plus it took me way too long to figure out what was going on a little bit before that because of the layout, and is Wonder Woman hovering standing still or walking on water? I know I'm practically the only one, but I just don't get this book.

Double Star

2012-01-16T11:26:00.000-05:00

Double Star
Robert A. Heinlein, 1956

Premise: Actor Lorenzo Smythe is tapped by spacer Dak Broadbent for a job: impersonation, no details. Lorenzo has no idea that he's about to be swept up in the intrigue of interstellar politics. Because if he had an idea about that, he'd have run in the opposite direction.

This book was so much fun. The prose style is delightful, the storyline interesting, the politics even compelling!

I really enjoyed it, and this is the first of the Hugo winners (chronologically) that I can say that about without reservation.

All of the characters are complicated and interesting, and despite plenty of tension, there's very little action, since most of the plot hangs on character growth. It's a great example of one of my favorite kinds of sci-fi: human characters, with human problems, complicated by future scale.

The Martians here are intriging, if never described too closely. I mostly get the sense of how alien they are, but they're still completely sentient, completely people.

The ending isn't that surprising, although the epilogue is beautiful. As a work of entertaining sci-fi, as a character study of actors and politicians, and as a meditation on identity and progress, I give Double Star high marks.

4 Stars - A Very Good Book

List of Hugo Award Winners

Comics Briefly: Batgirl #5, Batwoman #5, Demon Knights #5, Wolverine and the X-Men #4

2012-01-11T18:06:00.000-05:00

Favorite Issue This Week: Wolverine and the X-Men #4 (Demon Knights is a close second, though)

All Issues new in stores on 1/11/12

Batgirl #5
Writer: Gail Simone, Pencillers: Adrian Syaf & Vicente Cifuentes, Inker: Vicente Cifuentes, Colors: Ulises Arreola

I liked this issue more than I've liked the early ones, but I'm still not big on this title. The art has been decent overall, but I really disliked the first splash page in this issue from a posing standpoint. About the plot: did we need a new super-badass mystery chick? It just feels a lot like the lackluster parts of last year's Birds of Prey. Babs' internal voice is funny and occasionally sweet, but boy does she need some consistent supporting cast so this book can stop being My So-Called Self-Pitying Superheroic Monologue.

Batwoman #5
Writers: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman, Artist: J.H. Williams III, Colors: Dave Stewart

So I guess that was the end of the arc? I don't get this book. I mean, everything that happened followed from what happened before (except for the parts which tie back to the previous series), but in a way that felt dull and by-the-numbers to me. Suddenly Kate knows how to take down the bad guy, but that just leads to the clue for the next ~~MacGuffin~~ bad guy to chase. And then there's a scene to split her book further off from the other Bat-books. Maybe it would have a better pace collected as a graphic novel? There are some decent moments and some pretty panels, but overall I just don't care about anything that's going on.

Demon Knights #5
Writer: Paul Cornell, Pencillers: Diogenes Neves, Inkers: Oclair Albert & Diogenes Neves, Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo

This is more like it! This is a great issue because it takes the part I didn't like from last issue and gives it context and makes me appreciate it. I was a little disappointed with Savage (hope that plot will twist in the next issue) but I really liked this one overall. The bad guys try to tempt our heroes out of the town they're defending, and so we get some great character bits with some of the characters who had been neglected thus far, including confirmation of Exoristos' origin and some gorgeous work with the Horsewoman.

Wolverine and the X-Men #4
Writer: Jason Aaron, Artist: Nick Bradshaw, Colorist: Justin Ponsor

Woo! Continue the crazy! I haven't loved an X-Men comic as much as I love this title in a long time. It's got great humor, great style, and the art on this issue was slicker than last issue. I enjoy both styles, though. This week's installment brought in some new characters, some new twists, and a brief possible-future-flash. I just want to pat new student Genesis on his melancholy little head (you know, carefully), and the new plot with Angel is jaw-dropping. Plus now I want to read the tie-in part over in Uncanny X-Force. Darn you, clever comic makers! (Also, they're on Twitter. @JeanGreySchool This book is awesome.)

They'd Rather Be Right

2012-01-09T08:44:00.001-05:00

They'd Rather Be Right
Mark Clifton and Frank Riley, 1954

Premise: A telepathic college student helps two professors to create a machine, called Bossy, that can answer hard questions, do complicated tasks, oh, and make people young and beautiful indefinitely. Of course, it only works on you if you can let go of your deeply held prejudices about how the world should be. Obviously, everyone wants the machine.

I don't think this was nearly so bad a book as it has a reputation for. It's not good, but “Worst Book to win a Hugo”? Maybe. I'll tell you when I'm through the list. It was easy to read, tripped along, and was so cheerfully straightforward about its own weird brand of philosophically flavored cockeyed optimism that I had to enjoy the ride. There's a lot of didactic description about how people get stuck in thought patterns; that people refuse to acknowledge things that don't fit their preconceived notion of the world. Which is true, but not especially well described here.

The dated chauvinism is less pervasive than in The Demolished Man. It's mostly confined to two egregious examples of belittling language, that seem weirdly out of place with the general “we're all going to become enlightened, isn't that peachy keen!” sense that seems to be the default attitude.

I thought there were a few lines that resonate still, about people's assumption that the rich and powerful will get the main benefit of any new technology, such that “average” people start to think it's no use trying to fight for equal access. Also the character of the PR person was highly amusing in his mix of cynicism and good cheer.

This book does have a fairly fatal amount of Telling instead of Showing, causing it to often come off as a simplistic philosophy lecture by someone who hasn't quite thought through his thought experiment. Still, it was just two hours of my life to read, and the solution that the characters come up with to the problem of who should control Bossy was well presented.

Also amusing to me: the conclusions drawn at the end of the first two novels to win a Hugo award are essentially the same: “One day we'll all be telepathic and then everything will be great.” Okay, if you say so.

2 Stars – An Okay Book

They'd Rather Be Right, also known as The Forever Machine is available (just barely) at Amazon.com, although the copy I read was at a reference library. As in, you have to read the book there in the building, because they only have the one copy.

List of Hugo Award Winners

Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis

2012-01-06T15:48:00.000-05:00

Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis
Tracy Hickman, 2011

Recent Release! Copy for review provided by Netgalley.

Premise: Based on the Fireborn role-playing game. Ethan Gallows, ace cameraman, liked his life and his job, until his footage of unbelievable events was 'proved false' and no one believed the truth. He's been making the best of it in a world gone mad until his dreams start leaking into his waking life. Plus people start telling him not only is he a reincarnated dragon, but he has to rescue his brother, who is trying to kill them all.

This is a decent book, fun and fairly interesting, with well drawn characters and a very intriguing world. It just doesn't completely pay off by the end.

The best part is probably the setting. It is set in a modern world with magic, but not the kind where magic has secretly always existed, or where a select few know about the magic world. When it starts to flirt with those tropes, the tone becomes dull and lifeless. Rather, it is a world which once had magic, lost it, and then all of history happened, and now magic is suddenly exploding back onto the scene, alongside but surpassing all of the other problems of modern life. The way that the setting is introduced is pretty fantastic, and was probably my favorite part of the book.

It suffers from one of the problems that plague most novels based on role playing games: some aspects of the setting work really well (possibly better) than they do in the game, while some fall flat and awkward. The book is trapped by these elements, and has to make the best of them. For example, the stubbornness of civilians to disbelieve magic feels a bit like a cheat; something like that would only work for so long unless it was necessary for the game mechanics. Despite a valiant effort by one character to justify this, it feels too static for a literary world.

The characters are mostly fun, although there are a few easy ways out taken here and there.

Overall, this was a fun read, but it didn't quite live up to its early intriguing premise.

3 Stars - A Good Book

Check out Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis at Amazon.com

Comics Briefly: Action Comics #5, Animal Man #5, Huntress #4, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #4, Swamp Thing #5

2012-01-04T18:06:00.000-05:00

Favorite Issue this Week: Huntress #4

All Issues new in stores on 1/4/12

Action Comics #5
Written by Grant Morrison, Pencils Andy Kubert, Inks Jesse Delperdang, Colorist: Brad Anderson
Backup Story: Writer: Sholly Fisch, Artist: ChrisCross, Colorist: Jose Villarrubia

Ha, I knew if you left Grant Morrison in charge things would get weird sooner rather than later. The beginning of this issue is pretty good, a quick and pretty retelling of the launch of Superman's rocket from Krypton, and his discovery by the Kents. This is elaborated on in the backup, which focuses on the Kent's marriage and desire for children. The end of the main story veers off into the zone of "this feels like it might make sense if I had a lot of obscure information." And who is that on the last page? Spoiler: Grown up Legionnaires? I... am honestly not sure how I feel about this. In the next issue, the level of insanity could turn awesome, or just get more disjointed and confusing. We'll have to see. Side note: does this have anything to do with last months' issue? Oh, right, the end of that issue said that storyline wouldn't return until #7. Okay, whatever, I didn't like or understand that story anyway.

Animal Man #5
Written by Jeff Lemire, Art: Travel Foreman & Steve Pugh, Inks: Jeffrey Huet, Colored by Lovern Kindzierski

I really don't care about this book any more. I think the plot is silly, and the amount of gross-out horror really turns me off. It's explicitly crashing head-long into Swamp Thing now, although while the characters have been fighting the same bad guys for 5 issues, it still isn't technically a cross-over. I think that's part of why I've felt like both books are painfully slow. This had a little more action than last month, I suppose.

Huntress #4
Writer: Paul Levitz, Pencils: Marcus To, Inks: John Dell & Richard Zajac, Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

Some nice humor and some well paced action in this issue. Nothing amazing, but solidly enjoyable, in my opinions. Although I have to know soon: Is this Earth 2, guys? Or are you just teasing me with all these sly little hints in the art and the writing? (Don't think I didn't notice that she hasn't once given her full name.) I loved Huntress pre-reboot, but if we're going back to Earth 2, this book just gained a bunch of brownie points from me, just because.

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #4
Writer: Chris Roberson, Art: Jeffrey Moy & Philip Moy, Color: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

I'll admit it. As much as I love Star Trek, this sent issue sent me scrambling to the internet for info in a way that I didn't need to do for the DC side. As soon as I had that info, I laughed out loud. Okay, this crossover officially makes sense. You know, sort of. The reveal of the villain is half what I expected (and half I had to look up, but then it was obvious). Not much more to this issue though, besides the build-up to the reveal and a few cute bits of dialogue.

Swamp Thing #5
Writer: Scott Snyder, Art: Yanick Paquette, Colors: Nathan Fairbairn

I kinda liked this issue, except for the beginning and the cliffhanger. So I guess I'm saying the middle was decent. Alec acts super-heroic, finally, and the scenes between him and punk-style-Abby are almost sweet. Still, I'm hoping for some kind of resolution soon.

The Demolished Man

2012-01-02T15:56:00.001-05:00

The Demolished Man
Alfred Bester, 1953

Premise: Ben Reich, industrialist and CEO is determined to destroy his hated rival D'Courtney. But there hasn't been a premeditated murder for over seventy years, so he'll have to find a new way to trick the mind-reading Espers working in every level of society. Powell is an Esper 1, an extremely powerful mind-reader working with the police. These two powerful men clash explosively, but it will all come down to the secret of Ben's nightmare nemesis, The Man With No Face. First Novel to win the Hugo Award.

This is a very intriguing book with a weak ending. It's an interesting mesh of a sci-fi world with a very hard noir tone; the style is rooted in that exploitative world of dames and gangsters that no one can really pull off nowadays.

In some ways this is a mystery with no hero or villain; both Reich and Powell act only for their own interests and for what they want out of society. Reich is a lot more murderous, but Powell is no boy scout.

Personally, I found the subplot of Powell's relationships (or lack thereof) with Mary and Barbara distasteful, and that kept me from really warming to the character.

I really enjoyed the way that the Espers communicated, and there are several lovely sections near the beginning where complicated word art on the page tries to imply the intertwining conversations and different nuances that are available in mental speech. Bester apparently coined the term esper (ESP-er) in an earlier short story, and everything to do with the telepathy is interesting to me because of how exploratory it feels. Ben Reich's counter-plotting against the cops is fun to follow as well.

The ending section was dull, though. The revelations were foreshadowed heavily enough that they weren't interesting when they finally came, and some of the explanations for characters' actions made little sense. The explanation for why Powell is so keen on Demolishing Reich is all fluffy language that doesn't seem to say much. I'm sure that when it was written the reveal on "Demolition" would have been new and interesting and creepy, but as it is, it's just silly, dated and obvious.

All that said, up until the end it was an interesting read for an early look at psychic cops. Even if I do think it was awfully convenient for the sake of the length of the plot that 'peeped' (mind-read) evidence wasn't submissible in court.

3 Stars - A Good Book

There are a few cheap copies of Demolished Man on Amazon.com

List of Hugo Award Winners

Announcement: Hugo Project

2012-01-02T15:51:00.000-05:00

Last year, I started following the blog Dreaming About Other Worlds, and was really intrigued by an plan on that blog, to read and review all of the novels that have won Hugos. I thought, what a great idea! I'd love to try that. But I didn't, then.

About eight months ago I actually read through the list of Hugo-winning novels, and found I've already read about half of them. But I didn't add to that list... then.

A few months ago I decided to give it a shot. When I've got a few posted I'll set up a page to collect the reviews. I am NOT going to go straight through, that would be crazy, but I'm hoping to slowly get through the list.

Wish me luck.

2011 Retrospective

2011-12-31T09:22:00.000-05:00

Books in 2011

Best Book I read for the first timethis year: Dawn, by Octavia E.Butler

Runner-up:Elric: The Stealer of Souls, by Michael Moorcock

Very different books, but similar in their sense of depth and ability to shake me with their awesomeness.

Favorite Graphic Novel I read for the first time this year: Batgirl Rising (Bryan Q. Miller, et.al.)

Runner-up:Blue Beetle: Reach for the Stars (John Rogers, et. al.)

BestBook I read this year that was published in 2011: Reamde, by NealStephenson (review in queue)

Runner-up:Either Snuff, by Terry Pratchett or Stray, by Andrea K. Host. Allthree very different books, enjoyable in very different ways.

Mostfun bookish moments:

Browsedsome awesome used bookstores in Seattle this summer.
Ican put library ebooks on my Kindle now. This is super-exciting!

Comic Books in 2011:

FavoriteIssue of a Series: Batgirl #18

Absolutelygorgeous Valentine's Day themed one-issue story about Stephanie'sencounter with Klarion the Witch-Boy. I loved this issue to bits.

Runners-up:Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13 (ALL THE ROBINS!), PowerGirl #26 (Power Girl inspires girl-power in her cosplay fans),American Vampire #12 (One-shot story about Skinner Sweet)

BestOne-Shot: Jimmy Olsen

Iknow, this is patently unfair, because the content was writtenas a back-up in Action Comics, but then they cut the page-count onthe series and shuffled this off into its own thick one-shot. Which was fantastic.

Runnerup: Superman Beyond

(because awwwwww...)

BestMiniseries: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest

Thecore American Vampire book had ups and downs this year, butthis miniseries set in the same world was pretty solid. I mean, Nazivampires plus flamethrower equals fun, right?

BestOngoing that got canceled this year: BATGIRL, by Bryan Q. Miller

Man, this is why I can't stay excited about current DC. Because there isnothing now that I like as much as I liked this.

Runner-up:Darkwing Duck

Thisstarted to falter in the last arc or two... (did the writers run outof time and try to crunch stuff in?) but it was incredible early inthe year. And then it got canceled.

Favorite New On-going Series that I started collecting this year:

Alot of books that I followed were canceled this year. Almost all myfavorite titles were stopped, and the ones that weren't had somerough patches. I had high hopes and kind words at the start of the DCNew 52, but no book has had three straight issues that I really enjoyed, andfor me, those books are all dragging each other down with theirsameness.

So,the best new on-going series I'm collecting is: Wolverine andthe X-Men.

Becauseit's got great style and humor, and is not boring. So far.

Runner-up: Maybe Demon Knights? It's more up and down than the other DC books, but the high parts are higher than most of the others.

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #22, Princeless #3

2011-12-29T07:59:00.000-05:00

Favorite Issue this Week: American Vampire #22

Issues were new in stores on 12/28/11

American Vampire #22 (Death Race Part One)
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Rafael Albuquerque, Colors: Dave McCaig

YES! This is what I was waiting for. This issue was a fantastic return to form for this book. It starts a new story about new characters in a new time, but the dialogue sparks, the art is outstanding, and the story just races along. I loved this.

Princeless #3
Story: Jeremy Whitley, Art/Colors: M. Goodwin

Princeless continues to be pretty adorable, although this issue wasn't as good as the first two. I like the new character of the smith, but there are way too many tired references and obvious old jokes in this issue for my taste. The art is still fantastic, though, and some of the dialogue still inspired.

Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there

2011-12-26T10:08:00.000-05:00

Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there
Richard Wiseman, 2011

Premise: In this delightful volume, professor and skeptic Wiseman walks us through the science behind many seemingly paranormal experiences, and even explains how you can fake the paranormal yourself!

I don't buy many books for my Kindle for more than three dollars, but I happily made an exception for this one. The big US publishers passed on Wiseman's enjoyable work, reportedly “some suggesting that I re-write it to suggest that ghosts were real and psychic powers actually existed!” So Wiseman, in conjunction with his UK publisher, released it himself.

This is a fantastic book, which I devoured in pretty much one sitting. It's fun to read, it's funny, and it's educational. What more could you ask?

Wiseman examines seven main subjects: Fortune-telling, Out-of-body experiences, Mind over Matter (Telekinesis), Communication with the dead, Ghosts, Mind Control (hypnosis/brainwashing), and Prophesy (Dreams/Premonitions). For each, he gives an easy to follow history of the study of the phenomenon, followed by any current scientific findings.

A lot of the book delves into the specific ways that our brain tricks us into thinking or feeling certain things. It touches on everything from studies showing how likely people are to misremember details or only remember correct information (useful for card-readers to exploit, or for people to claim they dreamed about an event beforehand) to recent developments in easily provoking a disassociation between mind and body in the lab, and how that explains out-of-body experiences. I'd heard of many of these experiments before, but still loved reading this.

The book is also full of simple experiments you can try on yourself or your friends, whether it's how to give a cold reading like a professional “psychic”, how to appear to bend spoons, or how to protect yourself from brainwashing. Also: how to hypnotize a chicken. No, really.

This is a great book for a beginning skeptic: it's accessible and fun, and it showcases some fabulous history about people trying to get to the truth, whatever it might be. Bravo!

5 Stars – An Awesome Book

Buy Paranormality on Amazon.com

More information at http://www.paranormalitybook.com/

Holiday Comics! JLA #60, DCU Infinite Holiday Special, Larfleeze Christmas Special

2011-12-23T14:04:00.000-05:00

Cross-posted from Mainlining Christmas

In my quest to experience as much Christmas as possible, I picked up a couple of holiday-looking issues during a sale at my local comic shop. The Larfleeze Special I got when it came out last year. These are all really fun issues. Happy Holidays and Merry Reading!

JLA #60 (Released 2001)
Writer: Mark Waid, Pencils: Cliff Rathburn, Inks: Paul Neary, Colors: David Baron

“Twas the Fight Before Christmas!”
This is an incredibly silly little one-shot story, in which Plastic Man tries to convince a kid that Santa is on the Justice League. His explanation of how this came to be involves Neron, demon elves, evil gingerbread men, and Santa's surprise super-powers. The kid often knows more about the League than Plastic Man, and corrects the hero, like any good comic nerd. It's extremely zany, and I definitely enjoyed it.

DCU Infinite Holiday Special (Released 2006)
Various Writers/Artists

Wow! I definitely got my money's worth with this issue. This is a thick compilation of seven different short holiday pieces, with different characters (and different writer/artist teams) on each one. The only one that didn't really work for me at all was 'Trials of Shazam in “Gift of the Magi”' by Bedard and Marz. I just didn't know the characters or the situation enough to follow. The rest of the issue is fantastic, and that one might be good, I just didn't get it.

The Shadowpact piece by Bill Willingham (of Fables fame) was pretty spectacular, and very funny. Joe Kelly wrote a Supergirl piece that was surprisingly moving in spots. Greg Rucka's Hannukah-themed Batwoman piece was quite well done. I didn't understand all the context necessary for the Flash piece, but I really liked what I did understand.

The last short piece was completely hilarious. Kelly Puckett brings a off-the-walls-surreal Superman/Batman ElseWorlds tale straight out of the Silver Age. It packs an excellent punchline.

Green Lantern: Larfleeze Christmas Special (Released 2010)
Writer: Geoff Johns, Artist: Brett Booth, Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

I like this issue. It's extremely silly and extremely sweet, all at the same time. Plus it includes activities! A maze! A recipe for Christmas Cookies! Ha! The main premise is simple: Larfleeze (Orange Lantern of Avarice) heard that there's a fat man who gives away presents! Larfleeze is not the brightest star in the sky, but he's determined to get in on what sounds like a good deal. It's an extremely adorable and funny piece.

Comics Briefly: Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!, Batman #4, Wonder Woman #4, Wolverine and the X-Men #3

2011-12-21T18:36:00.001-05:00

All DC's New 52 books have to work against the tide with me recently. I'm just burnt out on the whole damn way-too-dark-and-depressing universe.

Favorite Issue this Week: Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!

All books new in stores 12/21/11

Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!
Writer: Grant Morrison, Artist: Cameron Stewart (Chapter 1), Chris Burnham (Chapter 2) Color: Nathan Fairbairn

STEPHANIE! I MISS YOU! Seriously, this issue is the last two issues of Batman Inc - well, the last two issues of the first half of Batman Inc. Happily for everyone, it takes place pre-New52-reboot. The first part (Batgirl Steph Brown infiltrates a finishing school for girl-ninja assassins) was supremely fun. I loved it. The second half made no flipping sense, and I don't care. It made a little more sense after I read the sum-up in the back to remind me of all the previous Batman Inc. shenanigans. Even though it was extremely surreal and I didn't always understand what was happening, the feeling of tension and catharsis was undeniable. What a crazy fun book.

Batman #4
Writer: Scott Snyder, Pencils: Greg Capullo, Inks: Jonathan Glapion, Colors: FCO

Decent issue, but nothing too special. Some good stuff in the middle, nice dialogue, good tone, but I'm getting really tired of every issue ending with a cliffhanger.

Wonder Woman #4
Writer: Brian Azzarello, Artist: Cliff Chiang

This... was not as bad as I feared from the solicits/preview. I still don't like this series. It's just not to my taste. I don't need more horror comics in my life, thanks. No feeling of satisfaction for me from reading this, just a sense of 'huh, okay.'

Wolverine and the X-Men #3
Writer: Jason Aaron, Pencils: Chris Bachalo, Duncan Rouleau & Matteo Scalera, Inkers: Tim Townsend, Jaime Mendoza, Al Vey, Mark Irwin, Victor Olazaba, Duncan Rouleau and Matteo Scalera

Now that's more like it! I laughed, I smiled, I gasped, I said "Oh, that character, now I get it" This was chock full of excellent cameos, and little character moments and fun dialogue for everyone. The art was a bit choppy (look at the size of the team!) and at points it veered toward melodrama, but overall I loved this issue.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

2011-12-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
L. Frank Baum, 1902

Cross-posted at Mainlining Christmas

This is a rather unique little... novella, I guess I would call it by the length. Probably one of the earliest attempts to really codify a “logical” life story for Santa Claus. I found it interesting, though, that even given a few animated specials that adapt this story directly, very little of this story has directly migrated into the popular conception of Santa. This could be one of the things that pulled the idea of Santa into the framework of “fairy tale” rather than “religious/mythic figure”, but I couldn't find out much about its original reception or effect.

Eschewing any references to Saint Nicholas, the historical figure, this Santa is a foundling raised by wood nymphs and fairies, called Claus because it means something like “small one”.

Most of the story is pretty cute: the fairies raise Claus, and since all manner of immortal spirits are his friends and protectors he befriends all plants and animals. Eventually he leaves home and discovers humans, loves children, invents toys (really) and discovers he likes making and giving them.

There's a really awkward, forced moral in here somewhere about how children with nice toys never wish to be naughty. Okay, if you say so.

Then there's a conflict. Some evil troll-like creatures appear to stop Claus, but his friends always help and protect him.

Then the story turns oddly bloodthirsty and violent for exactly one chapter. After which, the good immortals have killed all the evil beings. All of them. After mocking them for not being immortal, OR having an afterlife. Yeah, that made me a little uneasy.

Then Claus (who did not take part in the battle, and apparently slept right through it) goes back to discovering and inventing things. Sleighs! Deer! Chimneys! Stockings! Christmas Trees! It's more than a little ridiculous how much of this plays out. For example, eventually he can only go out once a year because the head animal spirit-herder-guy says he can only borrow deer on Christmas Eve, and only from sun-down to sun-up.

There are things that are really sweet about this story, but most of them are early on. Eventually it just started to feel really forced to me, as though Baum felt the need to explain in depth every single aspect of Christmas that he could think of, whether or not it makes sense to discuss it. The sequence in which the council of Immortals votes to make Claus immortal (not a spoiler, you knew this was coming) was pretty good, though.

And then there's the ending, when Baum tries to explain how even if parents put the toys in the stocking and bought them at the store, it's Santa who made them, really. Uh-huh. I don't think there was any time in my life I would have bought that one.

So in the end I guess I'm actually not surprised that more of this story hasn't filtered into the common story. It has ups and downs, but it's interesting, and I'm glad I read it.

3 Stars – A Good Book

PS: If you'd like to read a darker look at Santa's origin, with more moral qualms and more fantastic adventures, check out For Love of Children. This fantasy novel also delves into the secret origins of the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy. E-editions on sale all December 2011 for just 99 cents!

A Clockwork Christmas

2011-12-16T14:27:00.000-05:00

A Clockwork Christmas
Carina Press, 2011
Contributors: Stacy Gail, P.G. Forte, Jenny Schwartz, J.K. Coi

New Release! Copy for review provided by NetGalley.

Premise: A collection of 4 novellas each set at the holidays, each set in a steampunk world. I didn't actually realize when I requested this that they were all also romance, but maybe I should have assumed.

Okay, I know steampunk is big right now, but maybe it should stay in visual mediums.

I hated the first story: Crime Wave in a Corset, by Stacy Gail. I mean, I hated it a lot. I hated the characters, I hated the plot, I hated the fact that the steampunk bits were completely irrelevant. Something about the uber-melodramatic romance completely rubbed me the wrong way. With a different set-up, a different couple, maybe I could get into this, but I didn't buy this pair. The narration says the woman is brilliant, but we never get to see her be brilliant. The guy is presented as an absolute nightmare at first, and the story comes around to sympathizing with him much faster than I was prepared to. The girl accepts her lust for him so quickly, after he breaks into her home, makes her look like an idiot and threatens her life, that I lost any respect for her.

To me it seemed as though the author wrote all this mutual lust between two people who should loathe each other and then wedged in some redeeming qualities for each so it could pretend to have a happy ending. Not buying it.

Not to mention it's full of really terribly purple prose. The language used makes me queasy rather than titillated. If I have to read about anything that's turgid, throbbing, or firmly rounded ever again, it'll be too soon.

Happily, the second novella was a bit better, and the third and fourth novellas were even less annoying.

The second (This Winter Heart by PG Forte) and the fourth (Far From Broken by JK Coi) had a lot in common: both were about women who were partially or entirely cybernetic, and them dealing with their relationships with their husbands. Both stories had strengths and weaknesses, and Far From Broken was a bit more enjoyable to read, if a bit more obvious in the direction the plot was going. The characters in This Winter Heart were kind of morons.

My favorite one, by a leap and and a bound, was Wanted: One Scoundrel by Jenny Schwartz. This also had the distinction of being the one in which the steampunk and/or holiday setting was least important to the plot, and the one with the most realistic and pleasant to read romance. As in, two people meet, flirt, learn about each other, but do not go straight to X-rated sex. The characters in that one (a suffragette and an adventurer/inventor) were more sympathetic and more plausible, as well.

Part of my problem with some of the steampunk stuff that I've read is that I like the Victorian/Edwardian period so much as it is that I get frustrated when all modern authors seem to add is a few setting flourishes and modern character motivations. When I want characters with modern mores, I'll read novels set in the modern era. It just seems absurdly forced to me when characters at the turn of the century think like people now, with no explanation beyond "she/he's extraordinary/a rebel/raised in *insert exotic locale*"

Okay, that was kind of a lot of ranting more than a review, but I think you got my feelings on the work.

Crime Wave in a Corset - 1 Star
This Winter Heart - 2 Stars
Wanted: One Scoundrel - 3 Stars
Far From Broken - 2 Stars

Averaged Rating for A Clockwork Christmas: 2 Stars - An Okay Book

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #21, Batgirl #4, Batwoman #4, Demon Knights #4, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3

2011-12-14T19:38:00.000-05:00

State of the Collector: I might start buying fewer comics soon. I won't stop reading graphic novels and such, but I'm just not loving much that's coming out right now. I didn't have anything to say about last week's books except "Yup, these are okay but not great, in short: meh." If my husband didn't want to finish out the story arcs, I'd already be cutting some DC titles from my pull list.

Favorite Issue This Week: Demon Knights #4

American Vampire #21
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Jordi Bernet, Colors: Dave McCaig

Decent ending to a mediocre side trip in this world. I'm beginning to get discouraged by even this, one of my favorite titles. I hope the next storyline is better.

Batgirl #4
Writer: Gail Simone, Penciller: Adrian Syaf, Inker: Vicente Cifuentes, Colors: Ulises Arreola

Better in some ways than this title has been, but it was a long time coming. Babs gets to shine a bit more, there's some decent dialogue. I think the art wavers between quite pretty and sorta weird, and the cliffhanger leaves me completely cold, though.

Batwoman #4
Writers: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman, Artist: J.H. Williams III, Colors: Dave Stewart

I guess this is well done and skillfully put together, I just don't like reading it. I don't like most of the characters, as people. If they actually kill Flamebird I am dropping this book like a bad habit.

Demon Knights #4
Writer: Paul Cornell, Pencillers: Michael Choi & Diogenes Neves, Inkers: Michael Choi & Oclair Albert, Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo

Fairly intriguing issue, giving the back story for Shining Knight. I liked it quite a bit, although it didn't move the plot forward. Some really gorgeous panels in this one.

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3
Writer: Chris Roberson, Pencils: Jeffery Moy, Inker: Phillip Moy, Colors: Romulo Fajardo

Pretty decent amount of fun here. The two teams finally team up to take down some jerks, and it's amusing, if a bit by the numbers. The parallelism is well done, if, again, fairly rote. It made me smile and giggle anyhow.

Hogfather

2011-12-12T11:50:00.000-05:00

Hogfather
Terry Pratchett, 1996

Crossposted at Mainlining Christmas.

Premise: It's winter on the Discworld, so it's time for the Hogfather to bring presents to all the children. Except the Hogfather is missing. It's up to Susan, Death's granddaughter to save the day. She would really like to know why Death is climbing down chimneys, why new gods and fairies seem to be appearing, and what all this has to do with an Assassin with an unique view of reality.

I love many of the Discworld books, but this is one of my very favorites. It scratches all my holiday itches: the power of belief, ancient pagan roots, mocking "picturesque" holiday stories, and saving the world.

I love it from the very start. Here's page one:

Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree.

But people have always been dimly aware of the problem with the start of things. They wonder aloud how the snowplow driver gets to work, or how the makers of dictionaries look up the spelling of the words. Yet there is the constant desire to find some point in the twisting, knotting, raveling nets of space-time on which a metaphorical finger can be put to indicate that here, here, is the point where it all began...

Something began when the Guild of Assassins enrolled Mister Teatime, who saw things differently from other people, and one of the ways that he saw things differently from other people was in seeing other people as things (later, Lord Downey of the Guild said, "We took pity on him because he'd lost both parents at an early age. I think that, on reflection, we should have wondered a bit more about that").

But it was much earlier even than that when most people forgot that the very oldest stories are, sooner or later, about blood.

I would just sit here and read you the whole book if I could.

I love Susan, stubbornly trying to make her own way without using too many of her innate powers (lest she use them too much and forget what doorknobs are for), and how she makes quick work of any nonsense standing between her and her goal.

I love Death struggling with the more illogical parts of Hogswatch, while grasping the deeper aspects better than any mortal. The villains are creepy and the side plots entertaining. This book has some of my favorite scenes with progressive young wizard Ponder Stibbons and his thinking machine, Hex.

Of course through all the action and excitement runs the satire that Discworld is known for, in this case largely turned against holiday stories and traditions that don't really make much sense. I was particularly satisfied by Death logically demolishing that blot on humanity, the execrable Little Match Girl story.

There's a great sequence about childhood terrors coming true, and I found the reveal of the villains' plan very well done. The book is full of quotable lines and ends with a series of climaxes that leave me feeling quite pleased and full of a darker, truer sort of holiday cheer.

Highly Recommended.

5 Stars - An Awesome Book

Also see my review of the TV Miniseries adaptation.

Top Ten Tuesday - Childhood Favorites

2011-12-06T08:12:00.000-05:00

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and The Bookish

I haven't been on many blog hops and memes recently, because A) I've been very busy with work and B) I've been expending all of my blogging energy on Mainlining Christmas! Click over for rants and raves about holiday movies, books, music, and articles about the horror of the season.

But I thought I'd come back for today's, at least.

This week's prompt: Top Ten Childhood Favorites

I am going to order these roughly by age.

1: I'm told that I was obsessed with The Cat in the Hat as a very young child, but the first Dr. Seuss book I remember being obsessed with was Bartholomew and the Oobleck. Because I had to be different, even then.

2: Another favorite from early childhood: The Monster at the End of This Book. Because Sesame Street and Grover are the best.

3: Does anyone else remember the book Serendipity, and the series of related books? These were thin, brightly colored little volumes, generally with a moral at the end. Serendipity herself was a pink dragorn of, if I recall correctly, delicate sensibilities. I had a lot of these that I carried around in a little tote bag, and I adored them.

4: Enjoyment of The Black Cauldron, and the rest of the Prydain Chronicles, grew quickly to a general obsession with everything Lloyd Alexander had written at that point.

5: I have to give a shout out to the silly in hindsight but amazing at the time Riders of the Unicorn Queen Series. I read these books every six months or so for a while.
I actually re-read the first two this year, because I was curious how much I remembered.

6: I also read and loved all of the Miss Bianca/Rescuers books.

7: I had a full set of Little House on the Prairie books, although the early ones were my favorites. I re-read them often during my obsessed-with-pioneers phase.

8: The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles was a solid favorite for years. I'm still always a little bit on the lookout for a clear umbrella with yellow butterflies like the one the Professor had.

9: I read A Wrinkle in Time a hair later than I could have, but I devoured it in one sitting, and soon sped through the rest of the series.

10: Right around the time I was transitioning firmly into the adult section of the bookstore with the discovery of Dragonlance, Valdemar and Xanth, I loved a book called A Rumor of Otters. It was about a teenager in New Zealand who hiked into the wilderness alone in search of the titular wildlife, and lived on her own for a while. It made a huge impression on me, and I'm always a little sad that it isn't better known.

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

2011-12-05T08:00:00.001-05:00

Crossposted for Mainlining Christmas

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
E. T. A. Hoffman, 1816
Translation by Joachim Neugroschel

So, after watching several different versions of the Nutcracker Ballet for Mainlining Christmas, I wanted to go back and read the original story. That proved to be harder than it sounds, but I finally got access to a Penguin classics edition at the library.

(This volume also included the slightly sanitized retelling of the tale by Dumas that the ballet is technically based on, but I'm only looking at the original.)

As a work this story seems to consciously evade categorization. The story is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek fairy tale, a surrealist fantasy, with a story within a story that sees to want to mock the conventions of fairy tales but is still a fairly classic example. I found it intriguing throughout, but a bit exhausting to read.

The basics of the story are the basics of the ballet: Marie becomes obsessed with the Nutcracker that Godfather Drosselmeyer brings for Christmas, her brother damages it, mice attack her late at night and she is defended by the Nutcracker leading an army of dolls and toy soldiers. Then it gets a little more complicated. Drosselmeyer tells her a story of how a princess was turned into a hideous beast because of her foolish parents' feud with the Mouse Queen. She is eventually rescued, but the curse rebounds on the young man doing the rescuing, and he is turned into the first nutcracker. Or something. Of course, Marie loves the Nutcracker despite how ugly he looks, and her love and fidelity helps him defeat the Mouse King (son of the Queen from before) and be restored. Maybe.

The story isn't actually that complicated, but there is a narrator with a sense of humor, and reality and fantasy are so interwoven that I had a hard time being sure whether certain words or names were errors in translation, typos in the book, or intentionally confusing or vague. Part of the confusion comes from that fact that often the children's playtime is described in terms that they might have used. For example, at one point Fritz (the brother) puts his new toy soldiers away,but what the text says is that the Hussars set up camp and went to bed.

This leads into the confusion of whether Marie's toys actually came alive and defended her from the mice, or not. The conclusion of the story seems to fall on the side that it doesn't matter, so long as Marie keeps faith with her interpretation of events.

The interlude in candyland is from the story, but it's a brief dream sequence that makes basically no sense.

I enjoyed reading the story, but ironically I'm not sure that one would have any reason to read it nowadays if not for the ballet. I am intrigued by allusions in the introduction to Hoffman as a very early writer of surreal fantasy stories, though. Maybe I will track down some of his other work.

Fairly impossible to rate. For archiving purposes, though, I'll call this a 3 Star Story. Good, not great.

The Last Ringbearer

2011-12-03T09:00:00.001-05:00

The Last Ringbearer

Kirill Eskov, 1999, English Translation by Yisroel Markov, 2010

This review will have to be a bit different, since this isn't technically a book. Well, it's a book in Russia, but it can't be legally published here. The Last Ringbearer is an elaborate fan work based on Lord of the Rings.

You might have heard about this last winter, it was in the news for a while. For example, here's Laura Miller's article on Salon. The premise is actually pretty brilliant. First, it takes LOTR as a historical narrative, but not necessarily true. Second, considering how history on Earth is written by the victors, what might the actual events have looked like which inspired the story.

To sum up: there was a war, and like most wars, it was mostly about resources and power, while superficially being about ideology.

There are some flaws in either the writing or the translation. These include some awkward early expository infodumps, some poorly executed breaking of the fourth wall, and some allusions that I think are too heavy-handed.

That said, I really enjoyed reading this. It's exciting, intriguing, and inventive. The main plot follows a Mordorian medic who is given a secret mission after the end of the war, to try to claim a sort of victory despite the decimation of his people.

This is a cross between a scholarly exercise akin to trying to guess who King Arthur might have really been and a straight retelling of Lord of the Rings from an author who does not share Tolkien's romantic view of pastoral life. Parts of it made me think about the scenes in Isengard in the movie, and wonder what else would have been different if instead of a hellscape, it had looked like the workshop of a Da Vinci.

(I tried to find a youtube clip of the very beginning of Hudson Hawk to show you what I mean, but have not been able to.)

I loved the subtle parallels between parts of this story and LOTR, in theme or plotline. On the other hand, occasional winking-at-the-audience asides about how the conquering forces will "spin" this or that event were actually pretty annoying.

I really liked the book once the plot picks up after the lengthy exposition near the start. I started to love the book in the middle, when the story moves to a southern city for a while. If nothing else, this is really good fantasy espionage. There are lots of great original characters, while the versions of the 'normal' characters are a mixed bag, and your opinion will vary based on how much you like them in LOTR.

It doesn't replace LOTR, it isn't trying to. But it is a fascinating piece, and I highly recommend giving it a chance.

4 Stars - A Very Good Book

The English translation of The Last Ringbearer is available for free online.

Comics Briefly: Legion Secret Origin #2, Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #3, Princeless #2

2011-12-01T07:43:00.000-05:00

Favorite book this week: Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #3
All Issues new in stores on 11/30/11

Legion Secret Origin #2
Writer: Paul Levitz, Penciller: Chris Batista, Inks: Marc Deering, Colorist: Wes Hartman

Not a lot happened in this issue, but the fun scenes between Phantom Girl and Braniac 5 were worth the price of admission for me. Some decent action, not much plot beyond some vague dialogue from the shadowy adults who are semi-narrating this.

Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #3
Writer and Artist: David Petersen

This issue was actually completely worth the wait. (How long ago was this supposed to come out? #2 came out last May.) The confrontation between Celanwe and the king of the ferrets was amazing: gorgeous and stirring, everything this series can be at its best. I just hope the next issue gets here soon!

Princeless #2
Writer: Jeremy Whitley, Art and Colors: M. Goodwin

Speaking of schedule oddities, either this is here early or the last issue was late to my local store. Either way, Issue 2 is well done, if not as wall-to-wall fantastic as Issue 1. There was one sequence of a few panels in which I had a hard time following the dialogue. Other than that, the story of Adrienne the princess-rescuing princess proceeds apace.

Hercule Poirot's Christmas

2011-11-28T08:00:00.001-05:00

Cross-Posted for Mainlining Christmas!

Hercule Poirot's Christmas
Agatha Christie, 1939

I find Agatha Christie to be an acquired taste that I've never quite acquired. I enjoy her work, usually, but it takes me a long time to get into each book.

This was no exception. Once the story got going I quite liked it, but there were a lot of character introductions to get through first.

Once the extended family was all together at the manor house, they got right down to the business of Christmas: acrimonious backstabbing, awkward flirting, and murder. Poirot is brought along to assist the local police when patriarch Simeon Lee is found dead in a locked room. He'd assembled his clan of children together for the holidays to emotionally torment them, then threatened to make a new will.

So everyone has a motive, but only Poirot can peel through the misdirections and lies to figure out what happened. I especially enjoyed Poirot's amusement at the very British nature of the Lee family.

An enjoyable read, but the quiet tone isn't my favorite.

3 Stars - A Good Book

LOTR Read-Along! Return of the King Part Three

2011-11-26T09:30:00.000-05:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy
Previous Posts:
FOTR: Part One Part Two Part Three
Bonus One: Photos of Books
TT: Part One Part Two Part Three
Bonus Two: TOYS!
ROTK: Part One Part Two

Welcome to Part Three of Return of the King!
It's the end of the Read-Along! I'm sad to see it end, but it's just in time, as the holiday blog that I run with my husband is going to be taking up a lot of my blogging energy for the next month. Come visit us there: Mainlining Christmas!

Due to time and what I actually have to say, I might skip some of the prompts this week, because mostly I want to talk about the fact that we finally got to my favorite chapter. Yay!

What did you think of the two weddings? Do you think Eowyn will eventually find happiness with Faramir?
I talked about this a bit last week: I think Eowyn and Faramir are well matched in background and temperament and will balance each other nicely.

Holy Cow I was not expecting the scouring of the shire. If this is your first time reading, were you surprised? And if this isn't your first time reading, does the shock get a little easier to swallow on re-read?
I love love love The Scouring of the Shire, and I don't recall ever being shocked by it, just delighted. It is one of my favorite parts of the whole trilogy, and I see it as the culmination of many of the themes and plots of the work. I love that no one recognizes the hobbits at first, I love how easily they take charge and become a strong force for good.

I love that we get to really see how each hobbit's experience in war and in other lands has shaped him into a different person than when he left. I love Merry rousing the countryside with the tactics of Rohan, I love Pippin asserting himself as a Guardsman of the King, I love Sam rescuing the hearts of the people and the land itself, and Frodo as the strangely wise voice of compassion. It just honestly makes me happy to see them each come fully into their own.

As far as the end of Saurman goes, I find it appropriate.

Also there are a lot of touches in this section and the part immediately afterward to remind me of the conceit that the book that we are reading is descended in direct line from the Red Book in which the hobbits recorded these events as history. And frankly I still get a wonderful shivery feeling when Frodo reveals the final title.

What did you think of the very end, of the departure of the Havens?
I forgot that the Three Rings are so directly described as their bearers prepare to take ship. The whole thing is a beautiful sequence. There are a few "very end"s, though. The end of the main story, the main themes, are wrapped up with Sam's return home on the last page. However, I believe that chronologically the final event to be chronicled in LOTR is the death of Arwen in Appendix A, and that's some beautiful writing as well.

I'd like to thank everyone who's been involved with the read-along, I've had a great time!

Come back next weekend for one more Bonus: my review (it's actually been sitting in queue for a while) of the fan work which retells LOTR from another perspective: The Last Ringbearer.

Comics Briefly: Princeless #1, Wolverine and the X-Men #2

2011-11-23T22:57:00.001-05:00

Favorite Book This Week: Princeless #1
All books were new in stores 11/23/11

Princeless #1
Story: Jeremy Whitley, Art by M. Goodwin and D.E. Belton, Colors by M. Goodwin and Jung-Ha Kim

I had heard a review of this book on the 3 chicks podcast a few weeks back, so I thought I knew what to expect: a humourous flipped fairy-tale. I got so much more than that. I got characters with heart and warmth, a world with fascinating corners we've barely glimpsed, and an utterly charming story about a princess off to save the day. The art is adorable and effective, the writing mostly very snappy. It's super small press, so you might have trouble tracking it down (I snagged the last copy at my comic shop) but whether you have a young comic lover (or young fantasy lover, especially female) in your life or you're just sweet on awesome All Ages books like I am, this is highly recommended.

Wolverine and the X-Men #2
Writer: Jason Aaron, Pencils and Colors: Christ Bachalo, Inkers: Tim Townsend and Jaime Mendoza

Pretty fun second issue. Maybe a hair less brilliant than the first, but it was full of action, humor, and great character moments. Iceman gets to be awesome, and I'm intrigued by a friendship between Idie and the Brood student. Also, it was super cute that Kitty Pryde was answering the letters column.

Read but did not buy:
Skimmed Red Hood and The Outlaws #3, and it looks mostly as stupid as what I've seen from the previous issues, but the last three pages or so are a ridiculously adorable flashback about Jason Todd. Yeah, I don't get it either, but it was really cute.

Snuff

2011-11-23T08:00:00.000-05:00

Snuff
Terry Pratchett, 2011

Premise: Commander Sam Vimes is taking a vacation to his wife's estate in the country. But just because you drag the copper out of the city doesn't mean he won't drag his sense of justice with him, and when mysterious and nefarious things are being done to the local goblins, Sam decides maybe the country isn't so boring after all.

Another reviewer put it well when she said that it's a Monsters Are People Too plot, this time around focusing on goblins. Pratchett himself basically lays out the main theme on page 93:

The City Watch appeared to contain at least one member of every known bipedal sapient species plus one Nobby Nobbs. It had become a tradition: if you could make it as a copper, you could make it as a species. But nobody had ever once suggested that Vimes should employ a goblin, the simple reason being that they were universally known to be stinking, cannabalistic, vicious untrustworthy bastards.

Of course, everybody knew that dwarfs were a chiselling bunch who would swindle you if they could, and that trolls were little more than thugs, and the city's one resident medusa would never look you in the face, and the vampires couldn't be trusted, however much they smiled, and werewolves were only vampires who couldn't fly, when you got right down to it, and the man next door was a real bastard who threw his rubbish over your wall...

Knowing the basic idea early doesn't mean it isn't delightful to follow through to the end, though. There's plenty of provincial politics, unexpected allies, adventure and good humor to be had, and the ending still managed to throw a few surprises my way.

The goblins themselves are pretty interesting, once you get down to it: a complicated blend of tribal culture, superstition, and natural magic. The subplot about Young Sam learning about animals is adorable, and the chapters about what the rest of the Watch is up to dovetail neatly with the main plot without feeling forced. There are some particularly poignant moments with Angua that reflect back on the entire series with both triumph and melancholy.

I should add, the plot of this book builds upon Thud, and it might be difficult to follow, and certainly less satisfying, on its own. Also it managed to take the main aspect of Thud that I didn't think worked, and makes it work here wonderfully well.

Another winner in the Discworld, solidly enjoyable.

4 Stars - A Very Good Book!

Thud!

2011-11-22T07:25:00.000-05:00

Thud!
Terry Pratchett, 2005

Premise: It's Koom Valley Day, or soon will be, and the city is restless. The anniversary of a much-argued historic battle between Trolls and Dwarves, firebrands are using it to stoke racial tensions until Ankh-Morpork's melting pot is threatening to crack. As usual, The City Watch is on the front lines.

On this re-read, I didn't like this book quite as much as I remembered, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot to like. Much of the immediate plot hinges on solving the murder of a dwarven leader, and Vimes and the usual crew spend a lot of the book scattered over the city, picking up pieces of the puzzle.

I love the subplot about Vimes reading to his son, and Angua dealing with her own racial issues in adapting to a vampire in the watch. Mr. Shine is a worthy addition to the background cast of characters, and there's both humor and poignancy in how Vimes deals with a paper-pushing investigator sent by Vetinari.

My only real problem with the book is the blend between the main plot and characters and a few mystical elements. I did like most of the final resolution, but something about it felt slightly off to me.

Anyway, it's still tons of fun to read, and now I'm freshly re-read in time for Snuff!

4 Stars - A Very Good Book

Check out Thud!at Amazon.com, or as I did, at your local library.

Night Watch

2011-11-21T08:00:00.000-05:00

Night Watch
Terry Pratchett, 2002

This was a re-read for me of one of my favorite Discworld books. Some spoilers in the premise for earlier books, and a few light spoilers in the review, because otherwise I couldn't talk about my favorite parts.

Premise: Samuel Vimes has come a long way from a kid who joined the Watch. Under his leadership, the City Watch actually became a force for law and order. He eventually married and is now expecting the birth of their first child. This is all suddenly torn away when Vimes is thrown through a rip in time into his own past, along with the murderous psychopath he was chasing.

I sometimes wonder if you could construct an interesting personality test from the Discworld series, based on which characters and which plotlines you most enjoy. For example, I know plenty of people like the Witches of Lancre books best, but they might be my least favorite. I really enjoy the books about Death, but my very favorites, the ones I go back and re-read again and again, are the books about the Watch. The struggles of the fantasy cops, both standard and extraordinary, have some of the best heart, not to mention adventure, in the series. Either Night Watch or Thud might be my very favorite Discworld novel.

By this volume, Vimes' personality, philosophy of policing, and plotline is fully developed, and throwing him back to 'the bad old days' allows for a fascinating exploration of his character, and adds an unusual level of introspection. It also expands the world by giving Ankh-Morpork, and many of the city's prominent citizens, a real history.

It's Discworld, so there's humor and satire, in this case largely of governments and revolutions; the commentary often has a dark bite.

"Vimes had spent his life on the streets and had met decent men, and fools, and people who'd steal a penny from a blind beggar, and people who performed silent miracles or desperate crimes every day behind the grubby windows of little houses, but he'd never met The People.

People on the side of The People always ended up disappointed, in any case. They found that The People tended not to be grateful or appreciative or forward-thinking or obedient. The People tended to be small-minded and conservative and not very clever and were even distrustful of cleverness." - pg 250

The plot itself, in which Vimes has to play a new part in a dark time of political unrest that he's lived through once already, is both tragic and inspirational. He's always aware of his own inner tension between wanting to do right by the living, real people of this time and a desire to 'fix' history so he'll be able to return to his future. This is complicated by the necessity of playing role model to his own younger self.

I absolutely love this book, although it might be a bit less affecting to those who haven't read a few of the earlier books featuring the Watch.

5 Stars - An Awesome Book

LOTR Read-Along! Return of the King Part Two

2011-11-19T10:00:00.001-05:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy

Previous Posts:
FOTR: Part One Part Two Part Three
Bonus One: Photos of Books
TT: Part One Part Two Part Three
Bonus Two: TOYS!
ROTK: Part One

(PS: For more fantasy, come back this Mon-Wed for a short string of Discworld reviews, culminating in a review of Snuff, the newest one, on Wednesday. But back to Tolkein for now...)

Welcome to Part Two of Return of the King!
This section took us through the main plot climax, and into the actual returning of said king. I love the whole sequence on Mount Doom, always have, although I'm still looking forward to the rest of the book!

1. After witnessing the events of Denethor's demise, what are your thoughts on him as a father and as a ruler, especially when compared to what happened with Boromir and the Ring.

Denethor is a pretty sad character. I mean, he's arrogant and foolish, but as the leader of a city under siege (and I don't just mean now. They take that whole 'line of defense for all the free peoples' thing seriously) he's under a lot of pressure. Boromir was young and headstrong, but he learned from his father the pride of their city and the pressure of their position. I don't think Denethor necessarily started out a bad father or a bad ruler, but his direction and moral compass was twisted by his contact with his palantir. Not to mention Denethor had a lifetime of hopes bound up in his son that were doubly broken by the time we really met him: both by Boromir's death and by the impending coming of the King. His relationship with Faramir is broken on many levels, but the simplest is that parents often have trouble relating to children who are different then they are, and that small, normal stress was blown up into disaster by the pressures of the war.

2. Instead of riding into the city with pomp and circumstance, Tolkien pens the king's return as a clandestine act in which he demonstrates his rightful place through the act of healing the wounded. Your thoughts?

Well, Gondor has lived with the Stewards for so long that it's probably better to change things a little gradually. It would be very unlike the Aragorn we've seen up until this point to brashly claim his birthright until he was sure that it was the best thing for the city and everyone involved.

3. For one chapter Sam got to be rescuer and ring-bearer. What are your thoughts about Sam's brief time as a ring-bearer in comparison to the others who have born the ring, or wished to?

I talked a little about this in the last third of Two Towers. I love Sam as a Ringbearer. I love how much his grounded goodness protects him from the Ring, and how his ability to stay in touch with his instincts keeps him from pushing his luck.

4. In a twist unexpected in many hero tales, Tolkien ends the journey into Mount Doom with Frodo ultimately failing at his task. How did you feel about this and ultimately how does it make you feel about both Frodo and Gollum?

I think this sequence reveals the full power of the Ring, and really brings home how extraordinary is was that Frodo made it this far to begin with. The Ring doesn't want to die, and Frodo and Sam were very strong to be able to bring it close enough that a little luck could win the day. Gollum's mad struggle for the Ring is a part of this too, it helps you feel the malignant power of the thing.

5. Given that The Lord of the Rings is largely about an all male cast, what are your thoughts about Tolkien's portrayal of Eowyn now that we've seen the course of her journey through these culminating chapters of her story?

I adore Eowyn, even though I have conflicting feelings about her. As a character, unique in her own right, she is fantastic. She rises from her wound and eventually finds some personal peace after her pain. As almost the only representative of women in the whole book, my feelings are more mixed. The part where Gandalf essentially tells Eomer: your sister is just like you, but she hasn't had the freedom you've had, so how do you think she feels! That part was wonderful and surprisingly progressive. The part where she finds salvation through the love of the right man? Slightly more problematic. Let me be super clear here: I think it's a good place for her character to go, but a simplistic thing to happen to the only warrior woman mentioned in all of Middle Earth. Because I do think the bookish Faramir, kind and wise, and the warrior Eowyn, brave and honorable, are a really perfect couple.

6. Much of this section of our reading has been filled with desperate acts with little hope of success. How do you feel about the mood Tolkien created in the build up both to the battle and the final push into Mount Doom and what are your thoughts on how these sections ended?

It's so hard to put the book down through this entire sequence. I remember watching the movies thinking about how without the Book plot-split, they couldn't actually convey the tension from the end of Book Five, when Aragorn and Gandalf think Frodo might have been captured or killed. Watching the movies, you know what happened, but reading the book, last you saw Frodo, he had been captured. Really, from then through Mount Doom is one long push toward the end. Even though a lot of this is Sam and Frodo walking across Mordor, I still felt the constant tension.

The moments with Sam and Frodo coming down the mountain after the Ring is destroyed are some of my favorite scenes in literature; I find them incredibly moving, perfectly sad and hopeful and peaceful all at once.

7. The "assigned" sections for part 3 only take us to the end of the actual story. Will you be reading the appendices?

Of course! Well, some of them. I do recommend everyone find and read the section that details (and finishes) Aragorn and Arwen's story.

Blue Beetle: Shellshocked, Road Trip and Reach for the Stars

2011-11-18T09:00:00.001-05:00

Blue Beetle: Shellshocked, Road Trip and Reach for the Stars

John Rogers, Keith Giffen, Cully Hammer and Rafael Albuquerque, 2006, 2007, 2008

Okay, I get it now. Jaime Reyes is awesome.

Premise: These are the first three collected trades of the recent Blue Beetle series. (Not the brand new one, the one that started in 2006.) Jaime Reyes is a teenager in El Paso, who finds a scarab that seems to be made of stone. It's actually alien technology that bonds to his spine, giving him semi-sentient armor and the superhero identity of the new Blue Beetle. (There were two previous Blue Beetles, neither had the scarab react to them in this way, and both are dead at this point. It's not necessary to know anything about the previous Blue Beetles to enjoy these books.) Immediately after he discovers his new powers, he's drafted by the Justice League on a seriously far away mission. When he returns home, he finds that he lost a year somewhere. His family thought he was dead, his friends are freaking out that he's back, and he doesn't know how to be a superhero, but he thinks he has to try. That's where the story starts.

I understand why so many people raved about this series. It has a fantastic blend of action and humor, of epic battles and personal moments. The core of the series isn't Jaime fighting villains, it's him trying to figure out what the scarab is, and how to be a hero, while not freaking out or worrying his family, while protecting his hometown and his friends.

I love that there is very little secret identity bullshit. No sitcom-style manufactured problems about double lives. Everyone who is important to Jaime knows that he's the Blue Beetle, and they all adjust to it pretty well. The supporting cast is really strong here, and that helps a book like this stand out.

Of course, there's also great villains, awesome cameos from other heroes, and plenty of mystery. The art styles are really strong, flamboyant and expressive. I love it.

Jaime is a great hero, a unique personality with a sense of humor, an strong sense of right and wrong and a realistic perspective on the world from his upbringing. His family is extremely important to him. Both his parents work hard to keep their family above water, so he has, let's just say, a different worldview from some other heroes who are living off their trust funds.

All three collections were really good, but I especially loved Reach for the Stars. That one features awesome guest spots with Guy Gardener (Green Lantern) and Superman, the introduction of Traci 13 (the awesome sorceress girlfriend) and an amazing crossover with Teen Titans.

Shellshocked and Road Trip get 4 Stars, Reach for the Stars gets 5

Awesome series.

Check out Blue Beetle: Shellshocked, Road Trip, and Reach for the Stars on Amazon.com

Comics Briefly: Batman #3, Supergirl #3, Wonder Woman #3

2011-11-16T20:22:00.000-05:00

Favorite Issue this week: Batman #3

All books were new in stores on 111/16/11

Batman #3
Writer: Scott Snyder, Pencils: Greg Capullo, Inks: Jonathan Glapion

Decent issue, if mostly exposition heavy. My favorite thing was the use of odd panel angles; they really enhanced the off-kilter feeling Bruce is getting about the owl people. This book has pretty art. And a cliffhanger.

Supergirl #3
Writers: Michael Green and Mike Johnson, Artists: Mahmud Asrar & Bill Reinhold, Colorist: Paul Mounts

Decent amount of action and exposition here, but if Kara doesn't punch that obnoxious guy's face in soon, I'm going to be very put out. I know she's learning, but she needs a solid win. Soon.

Wonder Woman #3
Writer: Brian Azzarello, Artist: Cliff Chiang

I thought this issue was narratively disjointed, plus the whole world heard about the Zeus-reveal two months ago. I don't really understand what's going on here, why these characters are saying and doing the things they're saying and doing, other than to be dicks to each other. Side Note: they're grieving for the Amazons who died last issue, but Amazons are irreplaceable, and no one seems upset or surprised enough for me. Everyone else seems to love this book, but I just can't seem to get on board.

The Silent Tower

2011-11-14T08:31:00.000-05:00

The Silent Tower

Barbara Hambly, 1988

New E-Edition 2011

New Ebook Edition. Copy provided by NetGalley.

Premise: In the world of Ferryth, mages are forbidden to interfere with people's lives, but factions in the government and the Church are still looking for a reason to move against them. They might get it when a minor mage is murdered by someone manipulating the dangerous Void, releasing abominations into the land. Caris, bodyguard and nephew to the Archmage, is traveling with him to try and solve the mystery. The first stop is the imprisoned mage Antryg Windrose, mad apprentice to the late Dark Mage who knew the most about the Void. The other piece of the puzzle, however, is held by a computer programmer named Joanna who is being hunted from across the Void by their unknown foe.

How did I miss this one until now? Admittedly, I was a little skeptical of the world-jumping premise, but it's well handled throughout. The fantasy world is grounded enough, and Joanna's reactions to it are reasonable, as are Caris' thoughts during his brief sojourn in California.

Most of the story concerns the mystery: who is working this dark magic, what is his/her plan, what does he/she need a programmer for so badly that they traveled across dimensions to kidnap one? Joanna soon solidifies as the main character, with Caris along as local guide and second opinion.

There's a romantic plot that works without overwhelming, and my attention was fully held by the emotional lives of the characters.

One of the weaker aspects here is that the “modern” technology, while vague enough, is quite dated. Joanna was a programmer in 1988, after all.

Also the version I read had a handful of severe and confusing copyediting problems, including whole phrases misplaced in the next or previous sentence. I really hope those aren't in the paid edition, but I don't know.

I found the penultimate section a bit shaky, but the story finishes very strong. Fair Warning: you're going to want to read the next book right away, to find out what happens next.

Thanks to Open Road Publishing for re-releasing all of Hambly's work as ebooks.

4 Stars – A Very Good Book

Get The Silent Tower on Amazon.com

LOTR Read-Along! Return of the King Part One

2011-11-12T10:41:00.000-05:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy
Previous Posts:
FOTR: Part One Part Two Part Three
Bonus One: Photos of Books
TT: Part One Part Two Part Three

Welcome to Part One of Return of the King!
If you missed my Bonus Post last weekend, here's a link: LOTR Bonus: TOYS!

Man, I am having a harder and harder time only reading the assigned chapters as the plot speeds up in this final volume. This week focuses on Return of the King Chapter 1-6, which brings us mostly through the Battle of Pelennor Fields, but not entirely. Some aspects of my answers may reflect the next few chapters, too, but I've tried to keep that down.

Rather than answer the prompts directly (they're kind of vague this week), I'll just use each as a bit of a jumping off point.

On the Paths of the Dead:

I'm ashamed to admit that this is a section of the book I had forgotten about when I saw the movies, and I had to ask how much of it was from the book. It's more haunting than the series has been for some time, this idea of the men cursed as oathbreakers, waiting through the decades for a chance to be freed. It's a rather nice side effect of his plan to defeat the corsairs coming up from the south that Aragorn can lay them to rest.

On the hobbits' roles in the battle in defense of Minas Tirith:

This is the one of my very favorite subplots in the series: the roles that Merry and Pippin play in the armies of Rohan and Gondor respectively. I find it thematically satisfying that neither one is take very seriously at first, but both manage to accomplish great deeds. They've grown quite a bit from the young hobbits who tricked Frodo into letting them come with him out of the Shire, now showing their bravery and wisdom.

On the build-up to the Battle of Pelennor Fields:

Wow, I love this book. The lead-ins and preparations for the Battle never seemed slow or unnecessary to me, just a rising tide of tension rushing toward the conflict.

On Eowyn's part in the Battle:

As I said above, I started reading ahead because I couldn't put it down at the scheduled section break, so I have more to say about Eowyn than is covered in this third of the book, but I'll try to keep it simple for now. She's sort of a broken person at this point. No one understands her, she's all twisted up between her assigned role, her dreamed role, her crush on Aragorn, her fear and her determination. I think it's her rage and despair that drives her to disobey Theoden and come to war. Now, it was important that she do so, fate and destiny and all that, but it was still originally a selfish decision on her part. (Merry's determination to go is more selfless, of course providing he didn't slow down the other Riders. He wasn't left in charge of a kingdom.) I find myself hoping that this experience teaches her that glory comes with death and pain, and that she finds a way to blend her strength as a warrior with wisdom.

On Denethor and Faramir:

The original prompt was about Denethor's decision to send Faramir into the hopeless battle to hold Osgiliath, but I really don't have anything to say about them without the events of the next chapter after the section we were asked to read. Curse you, chapter break!

Comics Briefly: Batgirl #3, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13, Batwoman #3, Demon Knights #3, Huntress #2, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #2

2011-11-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

Favorite Book This Week: Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13!

All issues were new in stores on 11/9/11

Batgirl #3
Writer: Gail Simone Penciller: Ardian Syaf, Inker: Vicente Cifuentes, Colors: Ulises Arreola

This issue gets much more interesting once Nightwing's involved, but I'm just not that emotionally connected to NewYoung!Babs. I don't feel like I get her, I find her villain boring and her motivation murky. A few really gorgeous panels bring this up to good overall, but I'm really tired of this plot.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13
Writer: Scholly Fish, Pencils: Rick Burchett, Inks: Dan Davis, Colorist: Guy Major

YAY! Awwww, this was freaking adorable! A parody of a classic Batman comic, starring ALL THE ROBINS. Yes, ALL OF THEM. Everyone gets a little moment, and Nightwing (in full 70's awesome-costume) organizes the troops. The plot is fun, the resolution fantastic. Carrie mocks Damian! Tim and Stephanie hang out! Jason tries to be all cool, but he loves Batman too! YAY!

Batwoman #3
Writers: J.H. Williams III & W. Haden Blackman, Artist: J.H. Williams III, Colors: Dave Stewart

I finally in this issue got a glimpse of why everyone is so nuts for this character. There were a couple of character moments that I found really compelling. It's really too bad I still don't like the character. I'm really warming to Bette, though. The biggest flaw with this issue was the length. It just feels paced wrong to me, like it cuts off before it can get going.

Demon Knights #3
Writer: Paul Cornell, Penciller: Diogenes Neves, Inker: Oclair Albert, Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo

Nuts, not as much fun as last month. This one's suffering a bit from "middle of the story" syndrome: not much happens except bits of exposition and some really annoyingly pointless plot twists.

Huntress #2
Writer: Paul Levitz, Penciller: Marcus To, Inker: John Dell, Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

This continues to be decent, but I'm not sure it reaches great. Solid action, nice character moments, solid art. Nothing that impressed me, though.

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #2
Writer: Chris Roberson, Pencils: Jeffery Moy, Inker: Phillip Moy, Colors: Romulo Fajardo

This book is a lot of fun. Ridiculous amounts of fun. I really love the writing, the touch on the Trek dialogue is especially nice, although I do wish the pace would pick up a little. The little cross-world allusions are funny, and I have some very amused ideas about what could happen next.

The Unfinished Song: Taboo

2011-11-07T11:49:00.000-05:00

The Unfinished Song: Taboo

Tara Maya, 2011

I received a free copy of this book in return for a review.

Premise: Sequel to Initiate, this is the continuing story of Dindi the aspiring dancer/shaman and Kavio the young prodigy, outcast from his tribe. The core cast expands some, as does the world.

I liked this volume more than the first by quite a bit. The world became clearer, the structure of the magic became clearer, and best of all, the history that seems so important to the future of these characters was clarified.

Fewer typos, fewer narrative missteps, this is overall a stronger book. Also it was quite a bit longer.

It is a sequel, so from here out there may be slight spoilers.

One part that I didn't like was a sex scene. It came basically out of nowhere, and was surprisingly graphic. I don't mind that the characters had sex, that felt right, and some description of it is necessary for understanding their relationship, but the style of the writing took a side trip to romance novel. It was also odd because it only happened once. It isn't as though all the characters who had sex or romance in this volume got that treatment.

On that note, I thought the introduction of gay characters was fairly well-handled and welcome. Downright sweet, actually.

Most of the characters had some growing up to do in this volume, as they figure out what is important to them and what they are willing to risk for it.

4 Stars - A Very Good Book

Check out The Unfinished Song: Taboo on Amazon.com

LOTR Bonus: TOYS!

2011-11-05T08:30:00.000-04:00

When the LOTR movies came out, of course there was merchandise! Some of the best was the action figure lines produced by Toy Biz. We (my husband and I) actually collected the entire Fellowship in 6 inch scale, but those are currently in storage. So really the only LOTR stuff on display in our apartment is this:

Uh, yeah. That's still a lot of stuff, isn't it.

Most of it is the smallest scale, figures that are less than two inches tall. They're from a series generally called "Armies of Middle Earth". The characters have a tiny amount of articulation, but are basically just statues.

Here's the 2-inch Fellowship, coming out from between a set of Argonath bookends. Wow, that shelf is really dusty. Sorry about that...

These sets and scenes were actually pretty nice for their size. Especially the ones that were playsets, like The Bridge of Khazad-dum:

Frodo hides from a Winged Nazgul in the ruins of Osgiliath:

The Palantir chamber in Orthanc:

I also really like the little horses in that series. Out in front we've got Theoden and Eomer:

Up above there's Gandalf (the White) on Shadowfax:

There are a few 6-inch figures tucked into the corners of the shelf. The 6-inch figures from these lines were great quality. The costuming details and the paint work is fantastic, and many of them came with an impressive number of accessories. On our current display, in the back you can spot Elrond:

and Galadriel:

While on the other side we've combined a 6 inch Treebeard with tiny Merry and Pippin for a fun effect:

There are a few LOTR figures scattered elsewhere in our apartment, too. Eowyn guards one of my bookshelves:

While this oversized Troll looks down from a high shelf:

But the crown of our LOTR collection is Sting!

Gorgeous, right? Just wait until you turn it on:

The LOTR Read-Along returns next week with Part One of Return of the King!

Comics Briefly: Action Comics #3, American Vampire #20, Animal Man #3, Swamp Thing #3

2011-11-02T17:06:00.000-04:00

All books new in stores on 11/2/11

Action Comics #3
Writer: Grant Morrison, Pencillers: Rage Morales and Gene Ha, Inkers: Rick Bryants and Gene Ha, Colorists: Brad Anderson and Art Lyon

The first section, a flashback to Krypton, is really good, but the rest seems disjointed. I'm not sure when all these vignettes are happening in relation to each other, or how any of them resolve. I read it twice, but I feel like I'm missing a through-line. The back matter about the other "Super-" titles is much appreciated, and the kind of thing they should be doing in the back of the issues, instead of the same preview or interview in EVERY book in a given month. Of course, it just made me surer that the only one of those books I'm interested in is Supergirl, but I think the idea is right.

American Vampire #20
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Jordi Bernet, Colors: Dave McCaig

I found this stronger than last month's, at least for the flashback in the first part. I really liked the story of how that character came to be. The stuff happening "now" leaves me a little flatter. But as in last month, the final splash page doesn't get me excited for the next issue, just leaves me confused.

Animal Man #3
Writer: Jeff Lemire, Art: Travel Foreman, Color: Lovern Kindzierski

This was okay. More information and plot than last time, although I'm still dissatisfied with the slow pace. This is a problem I'm having with ALL of the New 52, though. Not enough plot, too much dark and edginess. The combo is deadly for me, because the way you keep me interested without plot is with humor and character moments.

Swamp Thing #3
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artists: Victor Ibañez, Yanick Paquette, Colors: Nathan Fairbairn

Interesting new plot twists, and finally some more info but, again, not enough happening in one issue. Also there was a single panel page that I'm sure would have been really effective were it not opposite a full page ad for Red Hood and the Outlaws, so it took me a while to figure out that it was in fact part of the comic. I like Abigail's new look alright, while the verdict's still out on her character. The cover is so stupid... I don't even want to talk about it.

A Shadow in Summer

2011-10-31T08:03:00.000-04:00

A Shadow in Summer

Daniel Abraham, 2006

Premise: An assortment of unique characters plot with and against each other about the future of a powerful merchant city-state.

While I really enjoyed reading A Shadow in Summer, it's been a couple of days since I finished it, and I'm already having trouble remembering it. I thought it was well done, an interesting magic system, pretty neat characters, but I don't know...it just didn't hook me completely.

The prologue was a bit intimidating in its use of new terminology; it took me a while to figure out what was going on. Once the story picked up I liked it (and understood it) more.

I liked Amat, the older overseer, a lot at the start, but she didn't really grow on me. I liked the main two young men, both conflicted and searching for purpose. The magic was neat, it centers on binding ideas into a human form and using them to accomplish tasks. The people who can do this are called poets, which frankly confused me for a chapter or two until I figured out what they could do. The primary andat (idea given form) in this book was called Seedless, and he was an interesting character, snarky and inhuman.

I did keep mentally comparing it to the Calliope issue of Sandman, even though it's a fairly different idea.

I appreciated that the denizens of that country had a whole second language made up of gesture, but I did get a little tired of reading “[whoever] took a pose of query/of apology/of affirmation” without having any idea what it looked like. Just a hair cutesy for me.

I did enjoy the book, but I didn't love it. Will I read the next one? Maybe if I see it in the Library.

3 Stars – A Good Book

More about A Shadow in Summer on Amazon.com

LOTR Read-Along! The Two Towers Part Three

2011-10-29T11:07:00.001-04:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy

This is the second part of The Two Towers.
FOTR: Part One Part Two Part Three

Bonus One: Photos of Books
TT: Part One Part Two

Here we are at the end of The Two Towers! It's kind of nice to be taking the time to savor each part of the book, because left to my own devices, I'd probably have kind of skimmed this section in my hurry to get back to the other characters. And that would be a shame, because following Sam and Frodo is wonderful.

Discussion Topics:

Faramir strikes me as a noble, intelligent fellow, especially concerning powers beyond his control. Had he gone to Elrond's Council instead of Boromir, how might the story have changed?

Faramir is awesome. He goes on the short list of people who are not really affected by the Ring (and yes, they basically changed this up in the movies because they wanted the Ring to seem more dangerous). I think it's because he's calm, and sure of himself, sure of who he is. He'd like to help win the war for his people, but he's studied enough to know that the One Ring is no way to do it. Thinking of him at the council is sort of odd: yes, he probably wouldn't have forced the split in the party, but in the end everyone got where they were most needed, so who knows how things would have turned out without that?

What did you think of Shelob and her lair? Would you willingly go in there? Yes, I know Gollum says "this is the only way", but Frodo could have demanded they explore and attempt to find another way.

To be fair, Gollum doesn't say "this way, through the lair of the giant evil spider, is the only way," and any way into Mordor is likely to be fraught with danger, so I think we can accept that Frodo and Sam push on despite their instinctive misgivings. Given what they've seen and heard, it does seem like the only choice, so I'm not about to second-guess it from here.

When Sam saves Frodo from Shelob, he finds himself in the vision he saw in Galadriel's mirror. Knowing the future isn't always as helpful as one would think, is it?

Knowing the future is never helpful. Ever. Unless you are a time-traveller, then I guess it's important to know where you're going. Without a time-machine, knowing the future is a tangled mess of self-fulfilling prophecies and moments of "too late" de-ja-vu.

Having always been a sidekick/helper of sorts, Sam reluctantly realizes he may have to become the Ringbearer. What do you think Sam will do with the Ring of Power? If you were the sidekick of the hero, and suddenly had the opportunity to become the hero, to finish the quest, what would you do with the Ring of Power?

I'll be interested to see answers to this question from those who haven't read the books. Note that in this last section, Sam uses the Ring to hide from the Orcs, and while he feels an effect, his loyalty to Frodo and to the Quest is unchanged. His innate goodness is just that awesome. Now, I don't have quite enough trust in my own innate goodness to use a Ring of Power (or even, in all honesty, to put on any of the replicas that came out with the movies) but I would certainly try to finish the quest.

The conversation between the two Orcs at the end was highly amusing for me. Yes, it serves to educate Sam on Frodo's condition, and Tolkien could have just left it at that, but he didn't. The Orc's commiserating could have been any soldiers in any war. To me, it felt like Tolkien was humanizing the enemy, instead of the traditional dehumanizing of the enemy that you usually see in war stories. What do you think?

There is some of that human sympathy, and it's welcome here, since in general the Orcs get very little of it. They're certainly not nice people, but neither are they unthinking beasts. I don't remember how much that sense is continued when we pick up this plot thread in the second half of ROTK, but I'll be on the look out for it.

The book ends on a cliffhanger. Are you excited to finish up the trilogy and see how it all turns out?

Well, I know how it turns out, but I am anxious to read it again anyway.

No Read-Along post next week, but stop by next Saturday anyway for

more LOTR bonus content!

Comics Briefly: Avengers Academy #20, Legion: Secret Origin #1

2011-10-26T16:33:00.000-04:00

Books were new in stores on 10/26/11

Avengers Academy #20
Writer: Christos Gage, Penciler: Tom Raney, Inker: Scott Hanna, Colorist Jeromy Cox

I had mixed feelings about this issue. It's well done, decently follows the reshuffle of the cast, with a few really nice character moments. It does, however, feel like this is the appropriate jumping-off point, if I want to take it.

Legion: Secret Origin #1
Writer: Paul Levitz, Artists: Chris Batista & Marc Deering, Colorist: Wes Hartman

Hey! A story about the beginning of Legion of Superheroes, with characters I recognize! That's what I wanted, and didn't get, in the New 52 Legion books! So far it's cute and fun, although not much more. Mostly told from an external point of view with mixed success. It's just a miniseries, though, so it's less of a commitment to pick up the first issue.

Read, Didn't Buy:

Justice League Dark #2: I found this pretty dull, even though the angsty character du jour was Deadman instead of Shade. Also Dove is in it. Not much happened.

Wolverine and the X-Men #1: This was completely and utterly looney tunes, in a way I really liked. Wolverine starts a school! Education Inspectors! Kitty! Hank! Inter-dimensional Imps! SHI'AR! It wasn't quite enough to buy it, though I'm tempted to go back. I'm trying to wait for the trade on some books...

Pirate King

2011-10-24T08:30:00.000-04:00

Pirate King
Laurie R. King, 2011

FYI: This is the eleventh book featuring Mary Russell and Sherlock Holmes. See my reviews of books 1: The Beekeeper's Apprentice and 10: The God of the Hive.

Premise: After the tumult of the recent months, Mary Russell is looking forward to some time away from tangled politics and mysteries. Her plans are cast awry, however, when she is asked to investigate sinister happenings surrounding Britain's premier silent film company. When movies, pirates, and Gilbert and Sullivan are involved, you can guarantee that nothing will be what it seems.

This was an extremely enjoyable read, although it falls a hair short in the climax of the plot. It's much more fun than the most recent Russell books, making it a welcome change of pace. The hectic world of early film is a fantastic milleu to visit, and all of the supporting characters were fascinating.

My favorite parts of the book, though, were the few moments of connection between Russell and Holmes, who are apart for much of the book. King has a lovely light touch here, writing her romance into word choice and pauses, tiny character beats that perfectly communicate meaning without betraying the sensibilities of two reserved, intellectual characters. After the craziness of the last few books, it feels good to see them comfortable with each other. This series can put more passion and depth into taking hands than many romance novels put into sex.

I didn't love the ending, though. I felt that while the action plot resolved satisfactorily, the resolution to the mystery plot was kind of thrown away, which begs some awkward questions about the set-up at the very beginning. It's still a very fun ride.

4 Stars - A Very Good Book

Pirate Kingis available on Amazon.com

LOTR Read-Along! The Two Towers Part Two

2011-10-22T11:22:00.000-04:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy

This is the second part of The Two Towers.
FOTR: Part One Part Two Part Three
TT: Part One

This was the middle bits, wrapping up the Isengard plot and the beginning of Frodo and Sam's attempt to get into Mordor. Let's get straight to the discussion questions:

1. The Glittering Caves of Aglarond; Fangorn Forest: Which of the two would you be most excited to visit once the war was over?
No fair! I love both forests and caves. Especially forests that lead to caves. Of course, depending on who you are and how careful you are, Fangorn might be more likely to kill you, so that would have to be taken into account...

2. How did you like the reunion of at least part of the fellowship at Isengard? Did any part of it stand out to you?
I really like that Gandalf and Theoden went off to talk strategy and news with Treebeard while Merry and Pippin treat Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli to a casual lunch. It gave their reunion a nice feeling of friendship and brotherhood, because the "grownups" are away, so to speak.

3. What are your thoughts about Gandalf's confrontation with Saruman?
It's pretty sweet: Gandalf gets to exercise his shiny new power-level. I also enjoy it because it's a bit of nice foreshadowing for *REDACTED FOR SPOILERS FOR YOU SILLY FOLKS WHO HAVEN'T READ THE BOOKS*.

4. We learn a great deal about the Palantir in this section. How do you feel about Saruman given Gandalf's speech about the use of the Palantir? Would you, like Pippin, be tempted to look in to see what you could see?
I basically agree with Gandalf about Saruman: that the palantir probably aided in his turn to the dark side, but he was foolish not to seek help in dealing with something that powerful. Let's not be too hard on Pippin, some of his problem was obviously a compulsion brought on by touching the thing. Assuming that it wasn't pointed straight at Sauron, a palantir could be awesome, but you'd want to check that with a licensed wizard before you went mucking around with one.

5. What are your thoughts about Smeagol/Gollum in this first part of his journey leading Frodo and Sam? For those of you who've seen the film, are you hearing Andy Serkis in your head when you read Gollum's lines?
I do feel bad for Gollum, and not only because I know the rest of the story. I really like the complications here: it's clear that feeling pity for Gollum is like feeling pity for an injured snake. You can try to help it, you want to help it, it might seem to like you, but you can never trust it. Regarding Andy Serkis, I hear him off and on. Definitely for the poem/song.

6. Sam and Frodo are not traveling in the most picturesque part of Middle-earth. Which would you find worse, the seemingly impossible to leave mountains or the Dead Marshes?
More landscape either/or? Well, I'd probably rather take my chances in the marshes, as I used to be passable at navigating swamps. (I spent lots of time catching frogs as a kid.)

7. Tolkien introduces us to a lot of places in this section of The Two Towers, many just getting a mention in passing. What do you think of Tolkien's place names (Minas Morgul, Isengard, the Emyn Muil, and on and on)? Do any stand out to you? Are there any that you don't care for?
Overall I love Tolkien's place names. His knowledge of language really shines here, as all of the ones I can think of roll pleasantly off the tongue and resonate well in the mind. There are some, like Ithilien, that I have trouble remembering when the book isn't in front of me, though. I do sometimes get tired of "this place is called X, except the elves call it Y, and it used to be called Z, and..." While it does help expand the sense of the history, I don't need all the alternate names for every single place they go.

Follow Friday Oct 21

2011-10-21T09:04:00.000-04:00

This is Follow Friday, hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read

Today's Question is:

Q. What superhero is your alter-ego?

I haven't Blog-hopped in a while, but I had to answer this one.

My real-life superpowers, FYI, are:

- the ability to find almost anything in our apartment, no matter how long it's been since I've seen it or who had it last

- the ability to make surgers behave.

A surger is a machine that looks like this:

that uses 4-5 needles and two blades to make edges that look like this:

and it's a fussy, temperamental piece of equipment.

For my super-hero alter ego, though, I'm picking Shayera Hol, aka Hawkgirl

This version, obviously

Not for her complicated love life or backstory, but because, like Hawkgirl, I can be a fun, loving, complex person but still often feel like there should be "Less talking, MORE HITTING!"

Comics Briefly: Batman #2, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1, Supergirl #2, Wonder Woman #2

2011-10-19T18:08:00.000-04:00

Favorite Issue this week: Batman #2

All books were new in stores on 10/19/11

Batman #2
Writer: Scott Snyder, Pencils: Greg Capullo, Inks: Jonathan Glapion

Okay, this is really good. Gorgeous, basically note-perfect, solid good comic. Less fun than Demon Knights, but you can't have everything. Light but nice touch on Gordon and Dick, nice expressions on Bruce. That suspended feeling of a really breathtaking panel reveal. Nice work.

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1
Writer: Chris Roberson, Pencils: Jeffery Moy, Inker: Philip Moy, Colors: Romulo Fajardo. Jr.

Yes, I picked this up because I couldn't resist the premise. Star Trek! Legion! CROSSOVER! Whoo-hoo! This first issue is mostly set-up, and I didn't leave it quite understanding what the full set-up is, but the writing is strong, the art solid, and the premise irresistible. The opening was pretty awesome, too.

Supergirl #2
Writers: Michael Green and Mike Johnson, Penciller: Mahmud Asrar, Inker: Dan Green, Colorist: Dave McCaig

Strong second issue. Basically the standard superheroes meet'n'fight, but well balanced between Kara's panic and Superman's compassionate confusion. Also she's trying to deal with having all her superpowers start randomly, so that's fun.

Wonder Woman #2
Writer: Brian Azzarello, Artist: Cliff Chiang

I guess it's very pretty, but I'm not enjoying reading this. It just isn't a tone I like, all anger and sharp edges. There are a couple of nice moments: Diana talking with Hippolyta, practice fighting in the ring, but the rest of it I could do without.

Also Read:

Justice League #2
Better than the first issue, but not good enough to buy.

Catwoman #2
Just looking through out of morbid curiosity. Ick. Ick. Stupid. Bad writing, bad plotting, bad art. Ick.

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures

2011-10-17T07:54:00.000-04:00

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures

Created by Bryan Konietzko, Michael Dante DiMartino

Various Writers and Artists, 2011

Woo-Hoo!

Premise: This volume collects the A:TLA comics that were previously published in several Nickelodeon branded magazines, as well as many which were never published. They take place concurrently with the animated series, as a series of short stories that fit in-between the episodes.

I adored this. It's a great assortment, from short two-page gag comics, to longer, in-depth stories. Twenty-eight stories total, including both stories I had read in the Free Comic Book Day sample. They are arranged in chronological order, and split up into sections for how they match up with the seasons of the series.

There were a few shorts that had art which I didn't much like, but overall it's remarkably consistent. The writing is generally strong, all the characters are true to their on-screen selves, and the dialogue and situations captured that balance of comedy, action, and pathos that makes the show so special.

I don't necessarily recommend this to anyone who isn't already familiar with the show, although if you aren't a fan of the show, I recommend you go watch it!

The best stories are definitely the longer stories which go with the third season.

My favorites were:

“Private Fire”, in which Sokka inflitrates the Fire Nation Army to “learn more about them,” with comedic results.
“Combustion Man on a Train” in which Aang splits his time between comforting a little girl who is traveling alone and fighting Combustion Man (villain from the show, they don't know his name)... on a TRAIN.
“Swordbending” in which Sokka challenges Zuko to a 'Swordbending' contest, and Zuko tries to get Sokka to admit there's no such thing as 'Swordbending'.
“Dragon Days” is especially welcome, as it's a flashback to before Aang was frozen, about an adventure with his friend Kuzon.

If the entire volume had been stories of that quality, it would have been amazing. As it is, it's a strong volume, and I'm glad I bought it, but it has weak spots, especially early on, plus the very surreal “bonus” comics at the end.

I understand that Dark Horse plans to create a new series of Avatar comics, presumably issue-length. I now have very high hopes for this.

4 Stars – A Very Good Book

Check out Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures on Amazon.com
Watch Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix!

LOTR Read-Along! The Two Towers Part One

2011-10-15T11:25:00.000-04:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy

Welcome to the first third of The Two Towers!
FOTR: Part One Part Two Part Three

I always forget, when I haven't read the books in a while, whether the two towers of the title are Orthanc (the tower of Isengard) and Bara-dur, Orthanc and Cirith Ungol, or Orthanc and Minas Morgul. It is technically the last one, but I think the only place I've seen that verified is in the very end of FOTR, and it's only there if you have a version that is split into three books. It could be any of them, or none, as far as the plot is concerned. The Two Towers contains all the middle bits of the story; I understand why it was hard to come up with a name for this volume.

(In case you missed it, I did a bonus post on one of the off weeks: LOTR Bonus: Photos of Books!)

I'm a little stretched for time this week, so I'm not going to respond to all the suggested questions.

Selected discussion topics:

What is your favorite part of The Two Towers, thus far into the book?
I've always had a soft place in my heart for Rohan, and the culture of the horse lords. The Golden Hall, the Rohirrim... fantastic stuff. I wish we were able to spend more time establishing it, but at this point the plot is moving rather quickly, and all the new characters better join up or shove off. One specific moment I liked was Eowyn left alone to defend her people, her armor shining in the sun. That was really a lovely image.

What were your thoughts and reactions of the battle at the Hornburg?
Saruman's army was pretty darn stupid to attack such a solid fortress. I know they couldn't really have marched onward, leaving the forces of Rohan in their rear, but their plan seemed to consist of "kill the humans!" It didn't go too well for them. Also, the survivors of the battle were eaten by trees, which is both disturbing and awesome.

Do you like it that Tolkien has split the Company into three mini-quests? Do you wonder if the company will be together throughout the quest again?
Not a terribly applicable question for me, since I know the plot, and anyone who's seen the movies also knows when the characters will meet again. I do like the structure, for the most part: first spending time following up on everyone on the west side of the river, and then we'll catch up with Sam and Frodo in "Book Four" (LOTR is six books in three volumes, after all.) Each set of characters cannot affect the others at this point, so I'm fine waiting to get back to the other plot.

Oh, unless the question was about the decision to split the party in the first place. Of course I like that: it makes narrative sense given the danger of the Ring, it lets the reader follow established characters all over the different events and lands affected by the war, and smaller groups give each character more individual moments to shine.

Comics Briefly: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #5, Batgirl #2, Batwoman #2, Demon Knights #2

2011-10-12T19:04:00.000-04:00

Favorite Book This Week: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #5 (Demon Knights #2 close second)

All books new in stores on 10/12/11

American Vampire: Survival of theFittest #5

Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: SeanMurphy, Color: Dave Stewart

A great conclusion to this miniseries.Fun action, good lines, bittersweet close. I can't actually tell you much without giving important plot away, but I like Felicia so much, and Ican't wait to see more of her.

Batgirl #2

Writer: Gail Simone, Penciller: ArdianSyaf, Inker: Vicente Cifuentes Colorist: Ulises Arreola

Not loving the art here. There's justsomething off about a lot of the panels. I think there's somethingpromising in the story, but we'll see where it goes before I canwholeheartedly recommend it.

Batwoman #2

Co-Writer & Artist: J.H. WilliamsIII, Co-Writer: W. Haden Blackman, Color: Dave Stewart.

This issue had a few funny moments andgood lines, and the mystery plot is neat, despite how little of itthere is so far. However, I wouldn't be sold enough on this characterto be collecting this if Erin didn't like it.

Demon Knights #2

Writer: Paul Cornell, Penciller:Diogenes Neves, Inker: Oclair Albert, Colorist: Marcelo Maiolo

More zany fun in the middle ages!Magic! Fighting “Dragons”! Of all the New 52 books I've read,this is the cast I'm most interested in. Vandal Savage gets somegreat moments here, as does Shining Knight and new Amazon-ishExoristos. Etrigan and Xanadu are delightful to read; overall Ireally enjoyed this second issue.

The Mermaid's Madness

2011-10-10T16:08:00.000-04:00

The Mermaid's Madness

Jim C. Hines, 2009

Premise: The sequel to The Stepsister Scheme, this is the continuing adventures of kick-ass princesses Snow, Talia and Danielle. The Kingdom of Whiteshore had a friendly relationship with the local tribe of undine (mermaids) that included mutual respect and trade. Or they did until this year. The mermaid princess Lirea has returned to take command of her tribe, and she is determined to go to war with humanity. Danielle and the others need to find out Lirea's true history and how to stop her, before more people die.

I liked this quite a bit, even though it risks being more of the same. I still like all the characters, I like the world, I like the way the story plays with fairy tale conventions.

I really like the twist on The Little Mermaid that is central to this one. It's dark and twisted and awesome. Lirea is a sadly broken person, and as such is fairly sympathetic, despite everything. The culture of the undine was fascinating, too.

Danielle has learned some since the last book, although this time she has to convince her prince that it's okay for her to go off on adventures. Talia and Snow are adjusting to the trio-team dynamic, and there's some growth in all their relationships.

I wish I had more to say than that these books are really fun action-packed romps starring a great team of women, and I approve of them. I suppose that's enough, though. I really enjoy reading them, and I fully intend to read more of these “Charlie's Angels” style Princess stories.

4 Stars – A Very Good Book

Check out The Mermaid's Madness on Amazon.com

Comics Briefly: Action Comics #2, Animal Man #2, Huntress #1, Swamp Thing #2

2011-10-05T14:01:00.000-04:00

As we head into the second month of the New DC titles, I have to admit that this entire experience has got me somewhat burnt out on single issue comics. I'm just tired of most of what I'm seeing. I'll still be picking them up, for now, but we'll see whether I either get sucked back in by something great, or soon my pull list is going to drop way down.

Favorite Issue this Week: Huntress #1

All issues new in stores on 10/5/11

Action Comics #2
Writer: Grant Morrison, Pencillers: Rags Morales & Brent Anderson, Inkers: Rick Bryant & Brent Anderson

This continues to be mostly fun and intriguing. Good energy in the characters and the art. There's a substantial art preview and interview in the back of this issue, some of what is coming seems promising to me, and some of it seems less so.

Animal Man #2
Story: Jeff Lemire, Art: Travel Foreman, Colors: Lovern Kindzierski

Some of what happened in this issue was pretty interesting, but in the end I was dissatisfied with the amount of plot here. I might push this book off to waiting for trade if the pace doesn't pick up.

Huntress #1 (of 6)
Writer: Paul Levitz, Penciller: Marcus To, Inker: John Dell, Colorist: Andrew Dalhouse

This I really enjoyed. I wish the tone had been leavened with a bit more humor, but it was definitely Helena, doing what she does best: fighting gangsters and protecting the innocent. There's some of the same subject covered here as in the graphic novel Pipeline (which starred Question and Huntress), although nothing would make me happier than adding a partner for Huntress to play off of.

Swamp Thing
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Yanick Paquette, Colors: Nathan Fiarbairn

More consistent art than Issue 1, which was already pretty strong, and a decent amount of plot movement. I really liked the beginning, although I was not completely satisfied with its resolution. I am really beginning to think I can't collect both this and Animal Man. There's just too much of the same thematic ground covered.

Encrypted

2011-10-03T09:49:00.000-04:00

Encrypted

Lindsay Buroker, 2011

Premise: Tikaya is a linguist, but during the war, she became a master cryptographer, and was instrumental in protecting the allies of her island home from invading navies. After the war, the defeated Turgonians want revenge on the one they call the cryptomancer, but first they kidnap her to help them decipher some mysterious runes. Along with another prisoner with a mysterious past, Tikaya needs to help her captors enough to keep herself alive, but if the secrets lead to putting something dangerous in Turgonian hands, she'll have to try to stop them.

I enjoyed reading this book, although it was fundamentally sort of fluffy. The romance is fine, the characters are sweet, the action is well done. It just didn't make a huge impression on me. It doesn't linger in the mind.

Side Note: I hate the cover. It doesn't matter much as an ebook, but I really dislike it. I think it's misleading and that the art is just unappealing.

Again, I liked Tikaya, she's super-smart with a bit of quirky humor, although a race of pale blond intellectuals living on a tropical island nation strains my credulity more than a little. Not a big problem for me, just a little reaction of “really?”

It was fun to read, it really was, but I'd have been more interested if the plot wasn't so pat. The good people are good. The nasty people are nasty. The good country is good. The nasty country is nasty. The good honorable people who come from this nasty country don't seem to be a contradiction. There is a clear answer to the moral question of what to do about the spoiler: *alien, probably* technology they find at the end of the arctic tunnels, and the good people agree about what the answer is.

I'm exaggerating slightly, the main couple had enough color to be entertaining and there was one supporting character (whom I think the sequel focuses on) with a little more depth, but most minor characters with more than one shade got disposed of once the plot was finished with them.

The balance between magic and technology is interesting, although since Tikaya spends most of the book with a group of low-magic people, I didn't get a good sense of how it worked.

I did really like the sequence when they were trying to decode and disarm the weird box that was making people crazy and violent. Even though I kept visualizing the scene as 30 Days of Night.

Overall a fun romp, a well-crafted fantasy action-romance, but nothing exceptional.

3 Stars – A Good Book

Check out Encrypted on Amazon.com

LOTR Bonus: Photos of Books

2011-10-01T09:00:00.001-04:00

There's no Read-Along post this week, so I thought I'd share some pretty photos.

While we don't have a copy of The Hobbit in our apartment (I had to get one from the Library last month) we do have a copy of The Hobbit Pop-up Book.

It's quite pretty, and panels that pull out on the sides of each page have excerpts from the text. There's only about 6 pages in the book, though.

(to spare Little Red Reviewer nightmares, I didn't take a picture of the Mirkwood spider battle 2-page spread...)

Here's our copy of Lord of the Rings. The dust jackets feature an Alan Lee painting.

While under the jacket each cover has this symbol in red and gold gilt.

Fellowship of the Ring and Two Towers feature this big fold-out map in the back:

And Return of the King has a map with more detail of the smaller area in which it takes place.

However, I've been getting busy, and hard covers are heavy to carry on the subway, so I've also borrowed a Kindle copy of LOTR from the library. It doesn't look half bad, although the maps don't translate very well.

Generally, I prefer to read on my Kindle these days, but something about LOTR begs to be read from the big hard cover editions with the thick cream pages.

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #19, Avengers Academy #19, Justice League Dark #1, The Fury of Firestorm #1

2011-09-28T13:43:00.002-04:00

Favorite Book This Week: Huh. All the books had highs and lows this week.
Favorite Writing: American Vampire.
Favorite Art: Justice League Dark.

All Issues new in stores on 9/28/11

American Vampire #19
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Jordi Bernet, Colors: Dave McCaig

Darn, this issue was not as good as I was hoping it would be. It has some very strong bits of dialogue, although I think adding extended early history between Skinner and Book at the very start of the issue is unecessary and just clogs up the story. Once the plot gets going it gets pretty good, but I really dislike Bernet's art. The cover is pretty, but totally misleading for what's inside. The final splash page, in particular, is awful. I mean, maybe they're trying to evoke a sort of oldfashioned cartooning style, but it doesn't match anything, even in this issue, and I just think it takes a moment that should be scary and awesome and makes it WTF?

Avengers Academy #19Writer: Christos Gage, Penciler: Tom Raney, Inker: Scot Hanna, Colorist: Jeromy Cox

Fairly good, if wussy, ending to their Fear Itself tie-ins, although there was something a bit off. Maybe it was rushed? There's just something a bit odd in pace and tone. Good character beats here and there. Finesse's mask looks different all of a sudden and I hate it. Veil at the end brings some great perspective to the plot, although it does make me wonder where they can go from here.

Justice League Dark #1Writer: Peter Milligan, Art: Mikel Janin, Colors: Ulises Arreola

Huh. This was a pretty good reintroduction/introduction to the magic characters of the DCU, although I'm not completely sold on the idea. With the possible exceptions of Zatanna and Constantine, they seem a little angsty for a super-team. What do they think this is, the X-Men? Nice scene-let between Bats and Z, but the other Leaguers are in too many panels, because apparently we need to remind everyone that even though he now has "armor", Superman is a wuss in the face of magic. I'm more interested in the premise than in any plotlines started in this issue, but it's competently done, and fairly pretty. I read it twice today and little of it is sticking with me, though.

The Fury of Firestorm #1
Co-Plotters: Gail Simone and Ethan Van Sciver, Writer: Gail Simone, Artist: Yildray Cinar, Colorist: Steve Buccellato

I don't know. Maybe I'm just tired of #1 issues at this point, but I saw a whole lot of sound and fury here, but didn't really care. The tone turned me right off from page one. I'm tired of the volume of "edgy" I've seen in the last month. There's a lot of unanswered questions, way too many for a first issue for my money. Not the kind that make me think: "Oh I want to find out the answer, I better get Issue #2", the kind that make me think: "Well, that made very little sense. Maybe I'll check back in once the first arc is done and see if it ever came together." And I really don't have any desire to re-read this issue to see if I'm missing anything. Maybe Erin will come home and read it and love it.

Flipped through a few others in the store:
Aquaman and Teen Titans: neither looked bad but nothing I'm going to go out of my way for.
All-Star Western seemed okay but nothing that grabbed me
Green Lantern: New Guardians almost managed to disguise the fact that they did exactly nothing in 20 pages... almost.

Elric: The Stealer of Souls

2011-09-26T09:09:00.000-04:00

Elric: The Stealer of Souls

Michael Moorcock, collection published 2008

(Stories originally published between 1961-1965)

Moorcock is one of those authors that as a fantasy fan, I know I was 'supposed' to have read. Somehow I had missed him until recently, so when I saw this book on the used shelf at The Strand, I decided it was time.

Premise: This volume collects the first stories written about Moorcock's angtsy albino anti-hero: Elric, Last Prince of Melniboné. He was hugely influential for many modern fantasy writers, and a lot of darker anti-heroes have their genesis in these tales. In this book, we follow Elric through several loosely connected adventures, then the second half of the book is four novellas that fit together into a full story that expands the sweep of the character and the world.

First off, the cover is fairly silly, but the internal illustrations are quite nice. It took me a little time to be drawn into this world, but I expect that from a work from this time. I was immediately struck by the tension between the pulpy grand language and the plots, which had plenty of action, but were more bound up in the way Elric felt than earlier stories I've read in this style.

His relationships with various women and companions are strained from the start; he's a loner who ends up surrounded by people, and then those people tend to end up dead. He's a physically weak member of an ancient race of great magical power and knowledge, who survives through symbiosis with his black sword that eats souls. This is sword and sorcery, but it's not a happy place.

The description tips into melodramatic here and there, but it's tremendously majestic at other times. It was written in the 60's, so no surprise that it gets incredibly surreal.

There is one story stuck in the middle of the book that is not about Elric, is very short and seems out of place. However, there are also copies of a lot of the cover art that went with the original printings of these stories, and that is really fun.

The second half of the book, which is the novel “Stormbringer”, is stronger than the first half, and really swept me away with the depth of the story and the contradiction at the heart of the main character. A villain cast as the hero is not a new story, but it's done really well here.

By the end of the volume, I understood why the imaginations of so many have been captured by this character. These stories inspired so much that I love, that I can't help but love them for that reason alone.

I found the end of the book tremendously affecting, in a way I haven't experienced in my reading in a long while. For that, for a tremendously intriguing world, and for the birth of the tortured sword-and-sorcery anti-hero, I give this book high marks.

5 Stars – An Amazing Book

Check out Elric: The Stealer of Souls on Amazon.com

LOTR Read-Along! Fellowship Chapters 16-End

2011-09-24T10:21:00.000-04:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy

Welcome to the Third and Final part of Fellowship of the Ring.

Part One Part Two

I'll respond to a few of the discussion suggestions below, but first, another anecdote:

Once upon a time, in 1999, in the lands known as Massachusetts, there was a shiny new college student who lived in a dorm. Many such students lived in single rooms in this dorm, and the halls were filled with bright decorations. One day this particular student was walking with some new friends, and they went one floor higher than they normally did, to stop at one particular door.

On a piece of white paper, mounted on this door, was printed: Pedo Mellon a Minno.

The student who lived behind this door asked if the others remembered the phrase, and joked that they had to know the password, which, of course, was "Friend". The new student thought this was marvelous, because while she loved Lord of the Rings, she hadn't thought to put it on her door. (Let's not forget, this is two years before the movie made LOTR popular again everywhere.) In fact, when she came into the room, she found much about the inhabitant to like, including a well-loved copy of LOTR itself, as well as other books, decorations and interests. The two became friends, and then good friends, and, at the turning of the year, became a couple. And she bought him a new hardcover edition of Lord of the Rings, so that the paperbacks could be returned to his parents.

That's the copy that I'm reading. We've been together for almost twelve years now. Lord of the Rings is one of those things that has become even more important to me over time.

Okay, enough sappiness! Discussion topics!

Galadriel and her Ring. She knows the Ring of power must be destroyed, but with its destruction comes the de-powering (is that a word?) of her Ring as well. The Elves must leave Middle Earth or forget who and what they are. For her, this is a no win situation. Frodo's success effectively means the banishment of the Elves in Middle Earth. I wonder if that makes him more likely to do everything in his power to succeed, or less?

I'd forgotten how much frank discussion there is of the impact on the Elven Rings, and how tied that is to the closing of the Age, dwindling of the elves, etc. Although, in a way, the elves were also banished (by their own doing) to Middle-Earth in the first place, so leaving is both a sadness and a homecoming. Or so it seems to me; in Galadriel's song she seems to doubt that they will be able to sail away from Middle-Earth, and it grieves her. While I'm talking about Galadriel, I want to note that I also forgot that there's a nice piece of Aragorn's story here if you're looking for it, which touches on courting Arwen. Heads-up for those coming in from the movies: Aragorn and Arwen's story isn't told in full until the Appendix.

After spending some time in Lothlorien, Sam realizes the Elves aren’t quite as scary or as strange as he first thought. I wonder if when he gets back to the Shire if he’ll realize the Hobbits in the next town aren’t quite as strange as he once thought. I really don’t think this is an overt “message” story, but I do wonder if Tolkien didn't mind throwing in a little message of “those folks in the next valley aren’t as different as you think”.

Sure, there's a lot of cross-culture and cross-race friendships: Legolas and Gimli, Hobbits and everyone, alliances between Elves and Men. In the later books it becomes a little more problematic, as "evil" humans are hardly ever portrayed in a complex or sympathetic light. (After the whole Read-Along, I'll tell you guys about The Last Ringbearer, which I read this past spring. It was fascinating.)

I only stared reading fantasy a few years ago, and I keep running into this undercurrent of choice. Bilbo has to choose to give up the Ring. Frodo has to choose to take on the quest and be the Ring bearer. Even Boromir is choosing how he feels about the Ring and what it could bring him. In the end, this is all coming down to how we choose to live our lives from moment to moment.

What I love, what I've always loved about both Fantasy and Science Fiction, is that by putting characters into extreme situations, you can really dig deep into ideals of morality, nobility and, yes, choice.

And the obligatory: what was your favorite part of this section?
It was all so good! Moria, Lothlorien, the river-journey... too hard to choose! I really felt for Boromir on this read, though. His entrapment by the siren song of the Ring is so well handled, understandable from his history and his point of view, and his grief after realizing how close he came to fully falling is so complete.

Next Time: The Two Towers!

Follow Friday Sept 23

2011-09-23T08:15:00.000-04:00

This is Follow Friday, hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read

Today's Question is:

Q. Do you have a favorite series that you read over and over again? Tell us a bit about it and why you keep on revisiting it?

Anyone who's been around here for a while knows my answer to this.

I own Lois McMaster Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga in both print and ebook. Recently I've been making my way through at least 12 out of the 14 books (plus short stories) every 8-10 months or so.

I love this series not only because it's well written, exciting, moving, and extremely fun, but because every time I read them, I notice new things. I normally read very quickly, so with books that can take the scrutiny, re-reading can be very enjoyable for me, as I pick up on subtle details and turns of phrase that I missed the first time. Also, as time has passed I become obsessed with different parts of the series. I mentioned in a recent post that Memory, a book in the middle of the timeline, has recently become my favorite, because turning 30 and struggling with career change speaks very directly to where I am in my life.

In certain moods early books like The Warrior's Apprentice or Cetaganda, more about high adventure, espionage and finding one's feet, are more enjoyable, and at other times later books about mystery, adult romance and commitment (Komarr, A Civil Campaign) are just what I need.

For wonderful characters and a fascinating world, but most of all for the incredible range of topic and tone while remaining true to those characters and settings, The Vorkosigan Saga is the series I read over and over.

You don't have to take my word for it: download The Warrior's Apprentice as a free ebook from Baen.com

(Close Second place: The Complete Sherlock Holmes. For a while I almost had this memorized.)

Comics Briefly: Batman #1, Cloak and Dagger #2, Darkwing Duck #16, Supergirl #1, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2, Ultimate X-Men #1, Wonder Woman #1

2011-09-21T15:06:00.000-04:00

Favorite Issue this week: Supergirl #1 (Close run with TMNT, Batman and Darkwing Duck, though)

All books were new in stores on 9/21/11

Batman #1
Writer: Scott Snyder, Penciller: Greg Capullo, Inker: Jonathan Glapion, Colors: FCO Plascencia

I was actually won over on this one by the art, more than the writing. Yeah, with the twist in the first sequence the writing was pretty awesome. (The ending twist is silly.) But what I really enjoyed was the tone set by a Batsuit with a bit of an old-fahioned touch, combined with "cute" style Bruce. Also, despite my eternal love for the ladies of Gotham, a panel that highlights the clannishness of Bruce and his troop of sons always makes me smile.

Cloak and Dagger #2
Writer: Nick Spencer, Artist: Emma Rios, Colorist: Javier Rodriguez

Not quite as much fun as Issue #1, but still a beautiful, haunting book. Technically a Spider-Island tie-in, but you can read this mini-series alone. It's got real style.

Darkwing Duck #16
Writer: Ian Brill, Artist: James Silvani, Colorist: Lisa Moore

Really fun issue! The reveal on the villain was well done, and played into the larger plot threads. The dialogue was snappier than it's been for the last few, too. Next time: Crossover with Ducktales!

Supergirl #1
Writers: Michael Green & Mike Johnson, Penciler: Mahmud Asrar, Inker: Dan Green

This was pretty great. I like the tone, the art. Most of all, I like Kara, which is really what this series needs to sell it. I don't like whatever is going on with her tights/boots/whatever, but I like her attitude. Superman better not be a dick to her in the next issue, or I'll be disappointed.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2
Story: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz, Script: Tom Waltz, Layouts: Kevin Eastman, Art: Dan Duncan, Colors: Ronda Pattison

More great action, more exposition, pretty art. I really want this to be awesome, and so far it's solid but not jawdropping. Good stuff, although even the high quality paper doesn't stop me from wincing a little at the 3.99 cover price on this title.

Ultimate X-Men #1
Writer: Nick Spencer, Pencils: Paco Medina, Inks: Juan Vlasco, Colors: Marte Gracia

Most of the press has been about Spider-man, but there's a lot of shuffling going on in the Ultimate Marvel U these days. This was a pretty interesting little book, taking the themes of the X-Men in a new direction. Many characters are dead or missing, and those who remain are in constant danger. I don't know whether I'll follow this long, but it features both Kitty and Rogue, so I'm interested.

Wonder Woman #1
Writer: Brian Azzarello, Artist: Cliff Chiang, Colorist: Matthew Wilson

Very intriguing, but I'm not fully sold yet. The story seems neat, and I actually really like the designs on the gods, but Diana seems like a bit of a cypher in this issue. We'll see what happens next.

Best Book I didn't buy:

X-Men Schism #4
Damn. I expected another struggle between Wolverine and Cyclops to end up tired and cliche, so I skipped this when it started. However, I really liked the last issue, and this one was awesome from the sparking dialogue to the final gorgeous splash panel. I'm a little sad that I haven't been collecting this. I really liked this issue, but at this point I'm holding out for the trade.

Also Considered:

Green Lantern Corps #1
Hey, all the pages that weren't in the stupid preview were actually really good. Guy and John bond over being openly Green Lanterns, then set off to kick some ass. I like that they're both heroes, as opposed to Hal who was a worthless schmuck in his book. They're having problems with other stuff, but they're good at being good guys.

Blue Beetle #1
Shrug. Maybe call me when you're done retelling the freaking origin.

Star Trek #1
This was cute but I decided I didn't need a new retelling of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" starring the 2009 crew. However, if that sounds awesome to you, check out this book.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Everyone Else Has Read

2011-09-20T09:43:00.000-04:00

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and The Bookish

This Week's Prompt:

Top Ten Books It Feels Like Everyone Has Read But Me

Let's See...

1: The Hunger Games is in the category of "Books I'll pick up one of these days if I see an available copy at the library and I don't have anything else I want to get and I'm all caught up with my other reading." I just don't feel the need to go out of my way.

2: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo I heard a little about this book and shrugged, then I heard a little more and got interested, and then a little more, and it went back into the "maybe, eventually" category.

3: The sequels to Twilight I read the first one so that I could criticize it fairly, but I am not subjecting my brain to the rest.

4: A Feast For Crows/A Dance With Dragons Nope. Not enough hours in the day to read another of these doorstoppers. Not going back to this series unless I hear that it ended and the ending was really amazing, and even then I might just read a synopsis or something.

In a more Classic vein, 5: Catcher in the Rye Missed this one in school, and never had the umph to track it down.

My brain refuses to come up with any more just now, partially because I think "everyone" is a vague category. There are plenty of YA books that I've seen on lots of blogs but I don't have any interest in, but I don't know anyone personally who has read them. Similarly, many of my friends have such different reading habits that there are very few books "everyone" has read.

The Rogue (The Traitor Spy Trilogy, Book Two)

2011-09-19T08:39:00.000-04:00

The Rogue (The Traitor Spy Trilogy, Book Two)

Trudi Canavan, 2011

Recent Release, Copy Provided by NetGalley

Premise: Sequel to The Ambassador's Mission (review here). Lorkin is adjusting to life among the so-called Traitors, trying to find a way to trade for new magical techniques without falling afoul of the faction who wants him killed. Back in Kyralia, Sonea worries about her son, but her hands are full tracking the unknown Rogue magician and dealing with two novices who stumble into dangerous knowledge. Meanwhile, Ambassador Dannyl continues his search for the lost history of magic.

I continue to really enjoy this series, but I don't think it's amazing, just solidly good. In this volume, everyone is distracted by potential romantic complications, either old flames or new love.

I think my favorite plot thread was the one about a pair of new characters: the novices Lilia and Navi. Lilia gets a lot more trouble than she bargined for when she becomes infatuated with the glamourous older Novice. She is a bit silly and a bit at fault, but her position is completely understandable. It's also nice, in the context of that plot, to see Sonea in a mentoring position.

There are no major changes in this book, but the plots are coming into congruence, and the new discoveries about the capabilities of magic seem to be headed for a clash with the old-fashioned Guild traditions.

It seems that big changes are ahead for the magicians of the Guild, whether they want it or not. While much of this book felt like set-up for the next, it was enjoyable set-up.

3 Stars - A Good Book

The Rogue is available on Amazon.com

LOTR Read-Along! Fellowship Chapters 9-15

2011-09-17T09:30:00.043-04:00

The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy
Part Two of FOTR went much smoother for me than the first section. I think I may have just been in the wrong mood last week.

Discussion questions are below, but first, an anecdote.

The first time I read Lord of the Rings, I was probably in my early teens. I was already passably familiar with the Rankin-Bass animated versions of both The Hobbit and ROTK at this point; I literally don't remember not knowing the basics of this story. I took all three books out of the library one summer afternoon, and started in on Fellowship around dinnertime. At 5am, I closed the book after the last page of FOTR and went to sleep. I did nothing but eat, sleep and read (and the former two grudgingly) until I finished Return of the King in the middle of the third day.

With all that in mind, I'll move on to the Discussion Topics, provided by Geeky Daddy (Clarifications/edits added by me)

1. What ~~was~~ were your initial thoughts of Strider/Aragorn when the Hobbits met up with him in The Prancing Pony? Did you think that he was linked with the ~~Riders~~ Ringwraiths?

I love Aragorn in this part of the book. He's got a nice balance of competence and caution, friendly but capable of being deadly serious. You can feel the tension between the need to get Frodo and company to trust him, and the impulse to just grab him and haul him bodily to safety. The second half of this question is fairly N/A, for the reasons above.

2. What was the biggest ~~surprised to~~ surprise for you during this section of the Fellowship of the Ring?

The song that Frodo sings in the Prancing Pony to distract the crowd from asking too many questions. I would like to direct to this passage anyone who has ever argued with me whether LOTR can be read as a prehistory of Earth. Admittedly, I always remember that point because it's stressed at the end of the Rankin-Bass ROTK, but this passage makes it explicit. Frodo's song is a linguistic ancestor of the nursery rhyme "Hey, Diddle Diddle." This amuses me intensely. "Here it is in full. Only a few words of it are now, as a rule, remembered." -FOTR, page 170

3. ~~Do you like that Tolkien goes in depth and tells the readers of the history events of the war that is upon the Fellowship?~~ Do you like that Tolkien goes in depth and tells the readers so much of the history?

As the richness of the world is what sets these books apart from much of what came before and after, I certainly like it. It does give a sense of depth to the world, and grounds the characters in a sense of time. Also the historical asides often do double duty. One of the best examples of this so far is Aragorn singing part of the Lay of Beren and Lúthien. It gives you a flavor of elven culture, a hint about how long they have been fighting Melkor and Sauron, and foreshadows Aragorn's own story.

4. How far do you think you would have lasted if you were Frodo and nearly becoming a Rider?

Well, first of all, Frodo rides Glorfindel's horse perfectly well, although I don't think that's quite what the questioner intended to ask. Second, Frodo was on his way to becoming a wraith, not a Ringwraith. Important difference there. To answer the intended question: hold on, I'll make a Constitution Check.

5. ~~As dangerous quest unfold to become, the other hobbits want to stick by Frodo til the end. Would you sacrifice yourself and stick with Frodo til the end?~~ Even as the quest becomes more dangerous, the other hobbits want to stick by Frodo 'til the end. Would you sacrifice yourself and stick with Frodo until the end?

I think we all, especially those of us who read fantasy, hope a secret hope that if we were put in a situation where it was really important, that we would rise to the occasion. How would we know for sure, though, unless it was really a life or death scenario?

Previous Read-Along Posts:

The Hobbit Parts 1 and 2
The Hobbit Part 3
FOTR Chapters 1-8

Comics Briefly: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #4, Batwoman #1, Demon Knights #1, Resurrection Man #1

2011-09-14T18:49:00.000-04:00

Favorite Book This Week: Demon Knights #1. No Question.

All issues were new in stores on 9/14/11

American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #4
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Sean Murphy, Colorist: Dave Stewart

Solid Issue. Snazzy new background information, and lots of nazi vamps get toasted. Not much else necessary to say, really.

Batwoman #1
Writers: J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman, Artist: J.H. Williams III, Colors: Dave Stewart

I know, I'm the only one not head over heels for this book. The story seems fine, but I don't know. I really dislike certain aspects of the art. Maybe I need to read all the back story I missed (which doesn't speak well of a #1, I think) but I just don't like Kate yet, so I'm pretty ambivalent on this book.

Demon Knights #1
Writer: Paul Cornell, Penciller: Diogenes Neves, Inker: Oclair Albert

What a relief! I was concerned after I didn't like Stormwatch (last week, by the same author), but I loved this issue. Best book of the new 52 so far, for me. I loved the tone, I loved the characters, I just enjoyed the hell out of it. Great villains, great heroes. It is absolutely D&D in the DCU, and I couldn't be happier.

Resurrection Man #1
Writers: Dan Abnett & Andy Lanning, Art: Fernando Dagnino, Colors: Santi Arcas

Not sure about this one. I liked this issue quite a bit; liked the premise, the writing, the twists, but I'm not sure how it would be to read an entire arc of this character.

Other Books Considered:
Batman And Robin #1
Some decent ideas in the first half of this, but... call me when Damian is anything other than a completely obnoxious prick, about which the only story is "Damian does something stupid, and other characters have to make up for it."
Also, my favorite unofficial panel about Damian is here: http://the-blackcat.deviantart.com/art/Back-to-the-Cave-Page-Five-90668145

Green Lantern #1
Not bad, but nothing that hooked me. Hal is a shiftless dummy, Sinestro's a jerk. What else is new?

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Recommended by Another Blogger

2011-09-13T09:18:00.000-04:00

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and The Bookish

This Week's Prompt:

Top Ten Books I Read Because Of Another Blogger

Happy Book Blogger Appreciation Week, everyone!

1: Champion of the Rose, by Andrea K. Host
This was reviewed positively by The Book Smugglers, and I remembered that when I saw it spotlighted on Kindle Nation Daily.
This is probably the recommendation that had the most effect on my reading, as I have since purchased all of Ms. Host's novels, and read all but the most recent.
More Reviews: The Silence of Medair, Stray (Touchstone)

2: God's War, by Kameron Hurley
Reviewed at Little Red Reviewer Unfortunately, I didn't like this book nearly as much as she did.

3: Star Trek: Harbinger, by David Mack
Picked this out after kind words over at This Week at the Library

I guess I could also count
4: Dawn by Octavia Butler
because while it wasn't recommended specifically by any feed I was reading, when I picked this up I was inspired by other bloggers who were actively trying to read more books NOT written by white people.

Books I have read already, but haven't posted reviews for yet:

5: Treespeaker by Katie W. Stewart
Reviewed at Sift Book Reviews

6: The Last Man On Earth Club by Paul R. Hardy
Reviewed at Sift Book Reviews

7: The Demolished Man, by Alfred Bester
Reviewed at Dreaming About Other Worlds

On the TBR List:

8: The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
After the gushing praise at both Little Red Reviewer and The Hopeful Librarian

9: Will Supervillains Be on the Final?: Liberty Vocational Volume 1 by Naomi Novik
Found out this book existed at Book Smugglers

All I can come up with for now... Do you have any favorite recommendations?

Stray (Touchstone 1)

2011-09-12T08:05:00.002-04:00

Stray (Touchstone 1)

Andrea Höst, 2011

Premise: Cassandra Devlin was just walking home from school when she turned a corner and was suddenly in a forest, somewhere far away from where she had been. First order of business: survive. She is just starting to get a handle on her situation when she is rescued, but her rescuers? Aren't from Earth. Cass needs to figure out how to get along in their world long enough to maybe, just possibly, convince them to help her get home.

This intriguing sci-fi series is written in diary style, so we hear everything from Cass's perspective. Her voice is what really sells this book. It's a great combination of snarky humor, matter-of-fact description and the occasional sense that she's balancing on the edge between managing her surroundings and completely breaking down. I really loved the whole first section with her alone, using the diary as an outlet to stay grounded, trying to figure out what happened and what to do next.

I wasn't expecting the dimension-hopping society that rescues Cass to be made up of tech-heavy humans, many of whom are psychic. (I must not have read the description that carefully.) They were driven out from their original home by malevolent things from between the worlds, and there is an organization that protects their settlement from incursions from nearby areas, sort-of 'echo' dimensions. It's a cool idea, and it makes for a lot of fantastic description. I like the little spins on cliches that Ms. Host throws in. For example, of course (slight spoiler:) Cass ends up having a mental power in this psychic society, but how exactly it works was unexpected.

There is a lot of potential in the mystery of what if any relationship exists between Earth-humans and the Setari. They have some ideas, Cass has others. I really hope that is explored further in the coming books.

I did run into a little name confusion here and there once a lot of characters were being introduced at once. Also I was really thrown by one scene in the middle. It shook up what I thought I knew about the rules of the world so much that at first I thought it was a dream sequence and it took me a bit to figure out what was going on.

I really liked that Cass is self aware enough to often recognize when she is predisposed to an impression or a decision based on the television, books and other media she consumed on Earth. That doesn't mean she always makes smart choices, just that she can analyze her own reactions. The entire ending was very well played.

Overall a strong first volume, despite a few bumps here and there

4 Stars – A Really Good Book

Check out Stray on Amazon.com

LOTR Read-Along! Fellowship Chapters 1-8

2011-09-10T13:07:00.000-04:00

Woo! It's time to start in on the meat of the LOTR Read-Along, with the first eight chapters of Fellowship of the Ring. (The Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy)

It's been an interesting re-read for me so far; I find that I'm noticing different aspects of the writing. Of course, I'm also reminded that the beginning of FOTR is slooooowwww. I like these books, but they take their sweet time to ramp up. These are all the chapters that when I heard they were cutting a lot of it for the films, I said: "yeah, okay, I mean, I'll miss it, but that makes sense." (Unlike the big section at the end of ROTK, but we'll get there when we get there.)

Discussion questions provided by Little Red Reviewer follow!

1. Hobbits seem to have songs for everything! I didn't realize this was a musical. . . . how are you liking all the songs?

It's fine. I generally like poems with plenty of rhyme and rhythm, and memorizing the Ring poem was a big deal for me when I first read the books.

Although, I'm actually finding them a little distracting this time through, because my brain is caught between musical styles, and I can't quite picture the tunes. I was completely thrown by A Walking Song (when Frodo, Sam and Pippin are walking toward Bucklebury), realizing how drastically re-purposed it was by the films. The fact that I was so surprised reminded me how long it's been since I've read these books in any depth.

2. I love that we learn about Gollum and his past so early on. It gives a dark and foreboding (dare I say, perilous?) feeling to the whole thing. Were you surprised that the story took a dive towards the dark and scary so quickly?

I admit, I kind of skimmed this part this time through. (Everybody who was along for the Hobbit last month, I hope you caught the reference that when Gandalf disappeared on the dwarves and Bilbo, it was because he and the other Wizards were fighting Sauron.)

3. Tom Bombadil! what and who is he??? If you met him in a forest, would you trust him?

No one knows, because Tolkien wouldn't say. Seriously, he's some sort of nature guardian. He's like Kipling's version of Puck. As such, you can trust him exactly as long as you aren't acting against whatever he's protecting. I liked that he had some weird moment of communion with a brooch. It made me think about the Silmarils, and Bombadil and Goldberry's place in Tolkein's pantheon of great couples.

4. What did you think when Pippin, Merry and Sam told Frodo about their "conspiracy", and that they pretty much knew what he was planning from the beginning?

This part I didn't remember clearly, and it was pretty funny. One of the main things I like about this section is that they're so terrible at planning. Frodo's terrible at hiding what he's doing, they don't know what direction to go, they get lost in the woods, they keep getting in trouble, they don't have any weapons. They're all willing, but very silly about it. They have a lot of growing to do to survive the books, and this lays the groundwork.

5. What's your favorite part of the book so far?

I'm fond of the creepiness of the sequence on the Barrow-Downs. It's the first time that Frodo is really faced with danger and death, and it always made an impression on me. The image of them waking up, dressed as sacrifices to an angry ghost is really a great image. Plus there's a nice little parallel to the Hobbit, where they come upon their weapons basically by luck.

Previous Read-Along Posts:
The Hobbit Parts 1 and 2
The Hobbit Part 3

Follow Friday September 9

2011-09-08T22:36:00.000-04:00

This is Follow Friday, hosted by Parajunkee's View and Alison Can Read

Today's Question is:

Q. Have you ever wanted a villain to win at the end of a story? If so, which one?

I have a somewhat complicated answer here. I am a fan, from way back, of occasional stories where the villain (or, more likely, the character of ambiguous morals) comes out just as well as the hero, or gets what they were after no matter what the hero does because of a Xanatos Gambit (i.e. all roads lead to victory). Well developed characters of ambiguous or complicated morality are always welcome, and they should accomplish their goals as often as (or more often than) anyone else.

When a book has actually flat-evil villains, I don't like depressing endings, but I do sometimes enjoy the bittersweet. While I am looking forward to the new book Pirate King, the previous Russell/Holmes novel, The God of the Hive (see review), is an example of a book where I thought the ending went too much the protagonists' way, and it just would have been a more interesting ending if it had been a more mixed victory.

Thinking back through recent reads...
Leviathan Wakes would have been more interesting (and I would be more interested in the idea of a sequel) with a straight 'villain wins' ending. What it had was close to that, but fairly wishy-washy.

(Villains winning is also one of the many many ways that Twilight could have sucked less, (see my review for a dozen different endings I thought up) but that seems like an easy target... )

Happy Blog Hopping!

Comics Briefly: Animal Man #1, Batgirl #1, Justice League International #1, Static Shock #1, Stormwatch #1, Swamp Thing #1

2011-09-07T19:30:00.000-04:00

It's an all DCU Week, and I bought a few more than I otherwise would have because my comic shop was offering a good deal.

Favorite Book This Week: Batgirl #1 (Really REALLY close: Animal Man, Static Shock)
All books new in stores on 9/7/11

Animal Man #1
Story: Jeff Lemire, Pencils: Travel Foreman, Inks: Travel Foreman and Dan Green, Colors: Lovern Kindzierski

The art in this book really threatened to turn me off right away, it's not a style I enjoy, but the writing was strong enough to keep me intrigued. It's creepy and surreal in a fantastic way, and the ending was awesome. Definitely interested to see what else they've got up their sleeves for this one. Although, Side Note/Spoiler: [highlight to read] Little Girl raises small animals from the dead is also the origin of notorious paranormal romance character Anita Blake. Just saying.

Batgirl #1
Writer: Gail Simone, Penciler: Ardian Syaf, Inker: Vicente Cifuentes

Strong dialogue, quick action, good character beats, you know, what I expect from Gail Simone. The set-up is fine, the villain reminds me a little of stupid slasher movies, but that could turn around easily. The ending is.... kinda overly melodramatic. Even so, this is a really strong issue, and it makes me happy to see Babs happy (even young, questionable timeline Babs.)

Justice League International #1
Writer: Dan Jurgens, Pencils: Aaron Lopresti, Ink: Matt Ryan, Color: Hi-Fi

I'm not too interested by the set-up here (annoying UN suits create super-team), but it's a neat mix of characters, so I wanted to give it a shot. After reading, I have mixed feelings about this issue. I'm already tired of the really, painfully old "foreign characters speak stereotypically funny broken English" gag. Batman and Booster, on the other hand, are written well. (I may have bought the issue because of how much I liked their interactions.) I'm not too impressed with the lady with the magic hair powers yet, and I admit to being a little personally grumpy that with Fire, Ice and Vixen also on the team, more lines and focus went to blond hair-lady than any of the others. Sigh.

Static Shock #1
Story: Scott McDaniel and John Rozum, Pencils: Scott McDaniel, Inks: Jonathan Glapion and Le Beau Underwood, Colorist: Guy Major

I really enjoyed this book! It was fun and irreverent, both a good introduction and a decent hook for the next issue. Static is a little cocky, a lot young, and he seems book smart without always being people-smart. I like him. The art gets a little loose around the edges in the middle of the book, but it isn't too distracting. Especially if the new team on Blue Beetle doesn't work out, this could become a go-to teen hero book for me.

Stormwatch #1
Writer: Paul Cornell, Artist: Miiguel Sepulveda, Colorist: Allen Passalaqua

Full disclosure: the WildStorm Universe and I aren't on the best of terms right now, and I come to this book with only the sketchiest knowledge of the previous versions of these characters. Now, this is still more than a lot of people have but, I read this issue and, well, I don't get it. I thought the plot was boring, and the dialogue incredibly stilted and forced. I don't know why I'm supposed to care. I liked Jenny Q, though. Only consider this book if you're already familiar with (and like) Stormwatch. Not going to follow this one.

Swamp Thing #1
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Yanick Paquette, Colors: Nathan Fairbarn

I really loved the opening of this issue, grounding it firmly in the breadth and depth of the DCU. Alec Holland is alive again, but he remembers being Swamp Thing, and he still has a connection to that world. This is a very intriguing start on that story. Superman's guest role is well done, the tension in the situation is well handled, and the art is strong overall, although there's a couple of really odd angles on Superman that stuck out to me. The bad things are really creepy. Really really creepy. This plot must be closely related to the similar creepiness over in Animal Man, or DC editorial is asleep at the wheel.

Best book I didn't buy: Action Comics.

There are some really nice touches here. This is Superman as an angry young man, but still recognizably Superman. But... it wasn't 3.99 good. Not quite.

Other books I looked at and didn't buy:
Looked through Batwing, and it was pretty, but didn't seem to be coalescing in the writing.
I also flipped through Detective Comics, and there is just nothing about that book that interested me.

Review: Ready Player One

2011-09-05T10:56:00.000-04:00

Ready Player One

Ernest Cline, 2011

New Release! Copy for review provided by Netgalley.

Please Insert Coin to Begin.

Premise: In the very near future, life is pretty bad. Most people spend their time (and their money) on the OASIS, an enormous virtual system that has replaced the internet, schools, many workplaces, and more. But the late creator of the OASIS left a secret, an easter egg, in the program somewhere. Whoever finds it is entitled to the late billionaire's entire fortune. There are corporations that spend all their time and energy in the search for the egg, but there are also lots of freelancers. Freelancers like Wade Watts, high school kid and gunter (egg-hunter). But no one has made progress on the riddle of the Egg in years, that is, until now...

This is the most charmingly adorable dystopia I think I've ever read, and I mean all the words in that sentence. Halliday, the man behind the OASIS and the hunt for the Egg, was a child of the 80's, and layered the pop culture references of his childhood into some environments in the virtual world and made them the key to the elaborate game that he set up for his aspiring heirs. This means that much of the book is kids in the future studying and becoming obsessed with the 80's, which is pretty entertaining. Obscure video games, movies, D&D, it's all in there. (Well, not too much in the way of books, which is odd for a book, but whatever.)

The book itself is structured like a classic 80's film: a group of kids from different backgrounds are in search of treasure, the obsessions of young people are extremely useful, the antagonist is an evil corporation whose motives and actions will probably be kind of silly if you think about them too hard. It skims over uncomfortable aspects of the future, touches on subjects without exploring them; again, much like many 80's movies.

It's a super-fun read, not serious science-fiction by any definition, but it's not trying to be. There were a few aspects to the plot that I found too easy or pat, but the tone was generally light enough (even when the subject matter got dark) that I could overlook them.

The puzzles were fun, the sense of teen adventure was strong, and I couldn't put it down once I got into it, devouring it in two marathon sessions. The ending was simplistic, but I'm still giving it high marks.

4 Stars – A Very Good Book

Check out Ready Player One on Amazon.com

Comics Briefly: Justice League #1

2011-09-01T09:31:00.000-04:00

I know, I was surprised too, when I went to check my pull list for this week and it was empty. But since it's an event and all, we picked up the new Justice League #1.

Issue new in stores on 8/31/11

Justice League #1
Writer: Geoff Johns, Penciller: Jim Lee, Inker: Scott Williams, Colorist: Alex Sinclair

So this is the flagship of the brand new DCU, and after all the hype, I have to say that it's...fine. Even good. But it's a slow start, nothing grabbing me from the first page. It's mostly Green Lantern (Hal) being a whiny, arrogant jerk and Batman (Bruce) being quietly competent and a little weird, with a peek at Cyborg that I don't know how I feel about yet, and a smoldering young Superman on the last page. (I predict new fanfiction in 3, 2, 1...)

It felt really short for a 3.99 issue, only 24 pages of content. Superman Beyond #0 last week was 3.99, too, but it was 30 pages. The art is nice, if a smidge busy for my taste here and there. The dialogue is decent, although, for me, Hal's pretentiousness steps over the line into grating. I enjoyed reading the issue, but in my brain it still feels like a good Elseworlds, not a good "real" book. It's a really good Elseworlds, though. Much better than Flashpoint. Does it seem from this issue that it will be the best version of the Justice League ever? Probably not, although I can't really tell. I'd wait for the collection, if you haven't already picked this up. But it's fine, and this is comics, and things are always changing.

So if you're still feeling angsty about the New 52, just do what I do, and remember, this:

Chinguards! Collars! Sparkly!

is the "real" Justice League only exactly as much as this is:

Old School!

and this:

Captain Marvel, Dr. Fate, Dr. Light, Mr. Miracle, this was clearly a magic/space adventures-heavy version.

and this one:

Never Forget. Superman was Blue and Electric, and that was in 'actual' continuity, too.

and this:

Hawkgirl, Vixen, Red Arrow, Red Tornado... is that Black Lightning? Wow.

And, of course, my personal favorite version:

Because if I can't hear Kevin Conroy saying it, it'll never really be Batman for me.

DC's New 52: Final pre-launch opinions

2011-08-30T16:55:00.000-04:00

Yes, a little more comic commentary. I'll talk about prose next week, guys, I promise.

It's been long enough that we fans have been hashing over the “New 52”, now impending from DC comics, that I've moved from flabbergasted, to torn between intrigued and angry, through interested, right on to tired of the whole idea. However, I still wanted to add my commentary for the upcoming issues, from most to least anticipated. Think of this as my Pull/Don't Pull List, and/or my Please Don't Cancel/Please Cancel Wish Lists.

Books that I will definitely buy the first few issues:

Batgirl #1 by Gail Simone, Ardian Syaf and Vicente Cifuentes – Despite my sadness to lose Stephanie, I'll definitely check out this series.
Demon Knights #1 by Paul Cornell, Diogenes Neves and Oclair Albert – Medival superhero team? By the writer of some of my favorite episodes of Doctor Who? Yes, please!

Books that I will probably try the first issue unless I hear something really negative beforehand:

Justice League #1 by Geoff Johns and Jim Lee – Actually I'm pretty ambivalent on this title, but I know my husband wants to pick up the first one.
Wonder Woman #1 by Brian Azzarello and Cliff Chiang – I want this to be good, but I have no idea whether it will be.
Justice League Dark #1 by Peter Milligan and Mikel Janin – I have no idea whether I will actually like this, but a team of magic/Vertigo characters sounds interesting to me.
Swamp Thing #1 by Scott Snyder and Yanick Paquette – I like Scott Snyder's horror touch over on AmVamp enough to check this out. His tone isn't much to my taste for superhero titles, but Swamp Thing might be a great fit.

Books that I am interested in flipping through in the store, and might buy if they look interesting enough:

Justice League International #1 by Dan Jurgens and Aaron Lopresti – Cautiously intrigued by this one, it has a nice assortment of characters, including Booster Gold and Vixen.
The Fury Of Firestorm #1 by Gail Simone, Ethan Van Sciver and Yildiray Cinar – I believe Gail Simone can make just about anything interesting, but Firestorm? Really?
The Savage Hawkman #1 by Tony Daniel and Philip Tan – I can't imagine I would actually buy this, but I want to flip through it in a rather masochistic way, because somehow I don't think this is the husband and wife space adventure story that I would rather have.
Mr Terrific #1 by Eric Wallace and Roger Robinson – I heard that “Karen Starr” is in this title, but she may not be Power Girl? WTF? I'll look, just in case.
Action Comics #1 by Grant Morrison and Rags Morales – I have heard some crazy things about this title. If Grant Morrison is really moving into 40's inspired “labor agitator” Superman, that could be intriguing.
Supergirl #1 by Michael Green and Mike Johnson – Maybe? I dislike most of the promotional stuff so far, but they could surprise me.
Batwoman #1 by J.H. Williams III, Haden Blackman and Amy Reeder – I am personally not won over by this character/series yet, but there's such anticipation that I'll probably check it out.
Batwing #1 by Judd Winick and Ben Oliver – Intriguing, if kind of token-ish feeling.
Green Lantern Corps #1 by Peter J. Tomasi, Fernando Pasarin and Scott Hanna – What interests me about Green Lantern is the diversity of the corps, so this book could win me over.
Green Lanterns: New Guardians #1 by Tony Bedard, Tyler Kirkham and Batt – I like the idea of high-level interactions between the rainbow corps.
Blackhawks #1 by Mike Costa and Ken Lashley – Now, a 40's Blackhawks would be on the top of this list. I'm highly skeptical, but I'll flip through.
All-Star Western #1 by Jimmy Palmiotti, Justin Grey and Moritat – Maybe? I don't know.
Blue Beetle #1 by Tony Bedard and Ig Guara – I hope that this can come close to the awesomeness of John Rogers' run on the character, but I'm not convinced yet.
Legion Lost #1 by Fabian Nicieza and Pete Woods – I always wanted to get into Legion, maybe one of these books will work for me?
Legion of Superheroes by Paul Levitz and Francis Portela – Ditto.

Books that I am more or less uninterested in, and probably won't even look at unless I hear really good things about them:

Aquaman #1 by Geoff Johns and Ivan Reis
Flash #1 by Brian Buccellato and Francis Manapul
Captain Atom #1 by JT Krul and Freddie Williams II
Green Arrow #1 by JT Krul and Dan Jurgens
DC Universe Presents #1 by Paul Jenkins and Bernard Chang
Superman #1 by George Pérez and Jesus Merino
Superboy #1 by Scott Lobdell and R.B. Silva and Rob Lean
Batman #1 by Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo – Yes I like Scott Snyder, but nothing about this book is attractive to me yet.
Detective Comics #1 by Tony Daniel
Batman: The Dark Knight #1 by David Finch – How many freaking Batman books does one company need? Really?
Batman And Robin #1 by Peter Tomasi and Patrick Gleason
Nightwing #1 by Kyle Higgins and Eddy Barrows
Green Lantern #1 by Geoff Johns, Doug Mahnke and Christian Alamy
Red Lanterns #1 by Peter Milligan, Ed Benes and Rob Hunter.
Animal Man #1 by Jeff Lemire, Travel Foreman and Dan Green
Frankenstein: Agent Of SHADE #1 by Jeff Lemire and Alberto Ponticelli
I, Vampire #1 by Josh Fialkov and Andrea Sorrentino
Resurrection Man #1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Fernando Dagnino
Stormwatch #1 by Paul Cornell and Miguel Sepulveda – To be fair, Wildstorm was never my thing, but I have to ask...why?
Voodoo #1 by Ron Marz and Sami Basri.
Grifter #1 by Nathan Edmondson and CAFU
Deathstroke #1 by Kyle Higgins, Joe Bennett and Art Thibert
OMAC #1 by Dan DiDio and Keith Giffen
Sgt Rock And The Men Of War #1 by Ivan Brandon and Tom Derenick
Static Shock #1 by John Rozum, Scott McDaniel
Hawk And Dove #1 by Sterling Gates and Rob Liefeld

Books that I actively dislike what I've seen so far, and will only pick up if I hear that they are miraculously the best thing ever, but I really doubt it:

Catwoman #1 by Judd Winick and Guillem March – So far, nothing to recommend this.
Birds Of Prey #1 by Duane Swierczynski and Jesus Saiz – Over and above Canary's hideous new costume and my personal misgivings about the writer, I'm boycotting this book on principle because of how badly the closing of the current run was handled by DC.
Red Hood And The Outlaws #1 by Scott Lobdell and Kenneth Rocafort – Ugh.
Suicide Squad #1 by Adam Glass and Marco Rudy - Double Ugh.
Teen Titans #1 by Scott Lobdell, Brett Booth and Norm Rapmund – The art and pitch for this book has revenge of the 90's written all over it.

Top Ten Tuesday - Fall TBR List

2011-08-30T09:54:00.000-04:00

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and The Bookish

This week's Prompt is: Top Ten Books on your Fall TBR List.

Well, I'm sure I'll run across a few galleys to tackle, but there's only one new book coming out that I'm looking forward to:

1: Pirate King by Laurie R. King. Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes, silent films and Pirates of Penzance? Yes, please!

I do have a list of not-new books I'm planning on reading or re-reading this fall:

2, 3, 4: LOTR, for the Read-Along hosted over at Little Red Reviewer

5: I bought The Black Company: The Books of the South at a dying Borders, and hopefully I'll get to that soon.

6: The Lies of Locke Lamora, and the other books I bought on vacation.

7: I'm planning on going to the local research library to read some The Demolished Man and some of the other early Hugo winners when I get both time and motivation.

8 through 200: The Giant Box-O-Back Issues that I bought on sale at my favorite comic shop. Woo!

Batgirl: Batgirl Rising and The Flood

2011-08-29T17:48:00.000-04:00

This Wednesday marks the beginning of the New DCU, so I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about my absolute favorite series that DC ended for the sake of their promotion. This version of Batgirl will not be continuing into the new continuity, but it's a really great run, all 24 issues, and I highly recommend it.

Batgirl: Batgirl Rising and Batgirl: The Flood

Bryan Q. Miller, Lee Garbett, Pere Perez, et al., 2010, 2011

I have been collecting Bryan Q. Miller's Batgirl since last summer with Issue #13, and I finally got my hands on the trades that collect the first 12 issues.

Premise: Stephanie Brown has been a junior vigilante for a while. Like many a young female hero, her father was a supervillain. I swear it's so common it's become a cliché. First she was a solo agent as the Spoiler, then started working with the Bat-family. She even briefly went by Robin, before she ended up rather dead. But this is comic books, so she faked her death... or something. It was all rather complicated and I didn't follow it. Now she's rebuilding her life, both as Stephanie, college student, and as the newest Batgirl.

I love this series. I love the mix of action and humor. I love that I completely accept Steph both as a trained badass and as a young woman. I LOVE her mentor relationship with Barbara (Oracle/previously Batgirl).

Batgirl Rising runs through how Steph starts fighting crime as Batgirl (as opposed to her previous Spoiler persona), starts working with Oracle again, navigates around Dick (Batman) and Damian (Robin), who are less than thrilled that she's active in the superheroics, and is finding her way in life in Gotham.

The Flood is the next section, primarily revolving around Steph, Wendy Harris and Barbara going up against the Calculator (Wendy's supervillain father. I told you it was a trend.) during a major rainstorm.

I really enjoyed both volumes. I like Steph's attitude, I like her tactics, I even like her crush on Detective Gage. I like the sense of Batgirl as a legacy character (including the lovely Cass) almost completely independent of Batman. I love how this series balances between being tied to the larger DCU and being its own little corner.

The art is fantastic. Evocative, clear and dramatic, gorgeous, and never exploitative.

Also, The Flood includes the fantastically fun issue in which Batgirl and Supergirl team up to fight Dracula. It rocks.

Team Batgirl FTW.

4 Stars – Very Good Books

Purchase Batgirl Rising or Batgirl: The Flood on Amazon.com

The Hobbit Read-Along Part 3

2011-08-27T12:51:00.000-04:00

This Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy

See Parts One and Two Here.

The following discussion questions pertain to the last third of the book, so if for some horrid reason you haven't read The Hobbit, you are hereby warned: Spoilers Ahead.

I'm battening down the hatches here for the imminent arrival of Hurricane Irene, but I think I have time to get this down.

What were your thoughts of how Smaug was killed? If you did not like it what
do you think Tolkien could have done differently?

I absolutely love it. I love it on the story level and the thematic level. I love that it's a bit of a subversion of a fairy-tale or epic plot. There is a Hero, but he's not the main character of the story that you're following. Yet the heroic plot couldn't have happened without Bilbo behind the scenes.

Were you satisfied with the ending of The Hobbit?

Yup. It's a bit of a left turn for the plot, but I like that. I like that the death of the dragon isn't the magic end to all the problems that the dwarves think it should be. The book draws you in with the fantasy adventure, and then turns around and says "and that's why war is awful. Get it now?"

What or who was your favorite part of the book?

Possibly Bilbo arguing with Smaug. I had forgotten how great that scene was. Of course, I'm also a huge sucker for this song:

What were your thoughts when Bilbo gave Bard the Arkenstone of Thrain?

It was a good idea, it came from the right motivation, but there wasn't much chance it was actually going to prevent bloodshed.

After reading the book will you be going to see The Hobbit in theaters?

Hell, yes. But, you probably knew that by now. :)

Coming Soon: LOTR! Maybe I'll get a head start on my re-reading during the storm...

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #18, Batman: Gates of Gotham #5, Superman Beyond #0, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

2011-08-24T16:21:00.000-04:00

Favorite Issue This Week: Superman Beyond #0
All Books were new in stores on 8/24/11

American Vampire #18
Writer: Scott Snyder, Artist: Rafael Albuquerque, Colors: Dave McCaig

A strong conclusion to the Ghost War storyline. Flirts with an edge of cliche in one aspect, but I liked it anyway. Good twists, good action, and good moments for Pearl always make me a happy reader. Next issue starts an awesome-sounding flashback, I'm really looking forward to the next arc!

Batman: Gates of Gotham #5
Story: Scott Snyder and Kyle Higgins, Writers: Kyle Higgins and Ryan Parrott, Art: Trevor McCarthy, Colors: Guy Major

This is the conclusion to this miniseries, and it's a decent one. There is some good action, some nice lines here and there, and I like the portrayals of all the BatKids. I especially like Dick's fight with the villain, it really worked for me. I wasn't in love with the obvious lead-in to next month's whole Dick-isn't-Batman-anymore thing, but whatever. The end of the plot I thought got a little muddled; I got the gist of it, but I think I would have to dig out and re-read the earlier issues for it to completely make sense.

Superman Beyond #0
Writing and Pencils: Tom DeFalco and Ron Frenz, Finished Art: Sal Buscema

I stopped collecting the recent Batman Beyond comics after three strikes: I didn't like the writing, I didn't like the art, and I didn't like the tone. This one-shot in the same world doesn't have any of those problems. There's that nice majestic lilt that I like Superman stories to have, a brief appearance by a sardonic Terry, and strong writing on the rest of the Future Leaguers. The villain of the story has a nice little plot as well, and while I feel like I've seen it before, it still works beautifully. Also, I would happily pay four dollars every month for one great page of Bruce and Clark being snarky old friends. Hear me, DC?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1
Story: Kevin Eastman & Tom Waltz, Script: Tom Waltz, Layouts: Kevin Eastman, Art: Dan Duncan, Colors: Ronda Pattison

Now, I'm a TMNT fangirl from way back, but never really got into any actual comics, the oldest stuff didn't appeal to me much aesthetically, and the new stuff...I just never found the on-ramp. So was I going to pass up a re-boot scripted by Eastman? Hell, no. The style is a neat mix of old and new that I really liked. The final art is simply luscious, and the writing on the first few pages especially is amazing. This is a new story, starting from the beginning again, but wisely drops us in medias res, with flashbacks to hint at the new origin story. Overall I enjoyed this issue, and I'm intrigued by a new spin on these old friends.

Top Ten Tuesday - Books You Never Reviewed

2011-08-23T08:54:00.000-04:00

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted at The Broke and The Bookish

This Week's Prompt is: Top Ten Books You Loved But Never Wrote A Review For

Considering the vast scope of my reading life before I started this blog a few years back (hell, I could probably fill this list ten times over with books I read before blogging was a word) I think I'll touch on entire series which I love that haven't gotten their due here on the Bookshelf.

1. Miles Vorkosigan Saga by Lois McMaster Bujold - Well, obviously. I've probably even re-read the whole series twice in the past year and the only one of them I've reviewed on the blog is Cryoburn.

2. Aubrey/Maturin Series by Patrick O'Brian - I really enjoyed all 20 and a half books, but the idea of reviewing them seems difficult; I mentally blend together what happened in each slim volume.

3. Discworld by Terry Pratchett - I loved a good half of these books, and have even re-read a few since I started the blog, but haven't reviewed a one.

4. The Dark Tower by Stephen King - I love Dark Tower, but haven't written a word about it. I hope to rectify this one soon, though.

5. Dragonlance - One of my very favorite worlds as a teenager, but I've only touched on a crappy recent one here.

6. Raymond Chandler's Marlowe books - Shortly before starting this blog, I went on a kick where I read a ton of classic noir. Chandler's were my favorite.

7. The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle - I've talked a lot around my love of Holmes, and addressed pastiches, but never really written about the stories themselves.

8. Rudyard Kipling is another author I was reading a ton of shortly before starting to write about books, but haven't written about yet. (Favorites include Kim, Puck of Pook's Hill, The Jungle Book...)

9. James Bond Series by Ian Fleming - These books have ups and downs, and are seriously dated, but I love some of them (Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, For Your Eyes Only, The Spy Who Loved Me...) and have never reviewed any.

10. Lord of the Rings - Is coming! I'm doing a read-along with a few other blogs this fall, but I've been meaning to re-read those books for over a year.

Ember and Ash

2011-08-22T08:01:00.000-04:00

Ember and Ash

Pamela Freeman, 2011

Recent Release, copy for review provided by Netgalley.

Premise: Ember thinks she has her life planned out. She is going to marry another warlord's son, uniting his land with her father's. Unfortunately, the godlike Powers that allied with her mother's people in the old days have other ideas, and soon Ember and her cousin Ash are plunged into a dangerous journey to save their people from the will of the capricious Powers.

I feel slightly odd about this review. It was a competently written book, and each part was well done. I'm just not sure that it managed to become more than a list of interesting scenes.

I wanted to read this book because I had read the first few sample chapters and really liked them. It seemed as if the theme of the story would be these brave people fighting for the right to not be playthings of these elemental Powers. I liked that a lot. There was some of that, but it felt lost in the somewhat silly plot complications.

I also felt that all the changes Ember went through over the book caused her to grow into a character I didn't like nearly as much as I liked her at the start of the book.

I thought the climax didn't follow from how the characters had been previously acting and found it unsatisfying. In the end, I have to call this a decent book that rubbed me the wrong way and never fully came together.

2 Stars - An Okay Book

See Ember and Ash (and comments from people who liked it much more than I did) on Amazon.com

Unnatural Issue

2011-08-21T08:30:00.000-04:00

This post is part of a week-long series of reviews of Mercedes Lackey novels. See intro post for more information.

Unnatural Issue

Mercedes Lackey, 2011

Premise: When Susanne was born, her mother died, and her father went insane with grief, refusing to acknowledge her and secluding himself from the world. This would be a sad story in any case, however her father was a skilled Master of Earth magic. As Susanne grew, she became an Earth Master as well, but her father starts dabbling in darker spells, and begins to think that he could bring his beloved back from the grave, if only he finds the right vessel. A girl of twenty-one who looks very like her mother fits the profile perfectly.

The Elemental Masters series consists of semi-linked volumes that can also stand alone. I've read a few in the past, but not the most recent, and still I could jump into this one easily. What links the books, besides the occasional recurring character, are two things. First the world: early 1900's Europe plus elemental magic. This one is set at the cusp of World War One. Second, each Elemental Masters novel is gently based on, or maybe I should say “inspired by” a fairy tale. Unnatural Issue is based loosely on The King Who Wished to Marry his Daughter or possibly a similar tale.

For most of the book, this is a romantic fantasy adventure, fairly light in tone. I found the necromancy practiced by Richard only inspired the necessary horror about half the time. Susanne is resourceful, if naïve and silly about certain things, and she's not a bad character to follow, although I didn't fall in love with her. Also, she's friends with Puck, which gives her a powerful ally outside of the human mages who try to teach and protect her.

I got a little tired of the romantic plot, honestly, as it was clear fairly early on exactly what was going to happen.

Fairly late, however, the book takes a harder tone, stops telling the reader all the villain's plans, and becomes much more compelling. There was one particular scene (which had nothing to do with the personal plot and everything to do with the war) that I found quite moving.

The climax fell a smidge flat for me. It wasn't bad at all, just a bit predictable. I did enjoy reading this, it was fun, but nothing about it (except possibly that one scene) really made me say “Wow!”

3 Stars – A Good Book

Check out Unnatural Issue on Amazon.com

The Hobbit Read-Along Parts One and Two!

2011-08-20T17:45:00.001-04:00

This Hobbit and LOTR Read-Along is hosted by Little Red Reviewer and Geeky Daddy.

I'm playing a bit of catch-up here.When I signed up to be part of this read-along, I really thought Ihad a copy of The Hobbit in the apartment. Turns out, LOTR, Check, Sillmarillion, Check, but no Hobbit! It must bein storage someplace. No problem, I thought, I'll just pick up a copy atthe library. However, when I got there, there were no copies to behad. It must be a summer reading book around here. Okay, Ithink, I have a copy of the BBC Radio Drama version that my husbandwon in a contest. I'll listen to that.

And then we went out of town for aweek.

And I discovered that long radio dramaisn't really my thing. (Short I can handle.)

Went back to the library, and this timeI found a copy. Instead of answering all the discussion questions from bothweeks, I'll just touch on a selection for now:

On Chapters 1-7:

What were your expectations startingThe Hobbit ? (If you never read it before)
(For those who have readthe Hobbit) Did you learn something during reading that you missedfrom the last time you read it?

My first experiences with the Hobbitwere either with the book itself or the Rankin-Bass animated version. Ihonestly can't remember which I saw first, but the songs from themovie are the music that I associate with the book. Then Iread the book again when it was taught in a High School EnglishClass, so I am having a few flashbacks to those discussions. Today,I'm enjoying the style a lot more than I remembered, perhaps becauseI've now read enough of the contemporaries or authors that inspiredTolkien to put it in proper context. It's light, but not too light,amusing without dipping into self-parody. It's in that transitionalphase between fairy tale style and what we think of as a modernfantasy novel. Although, I'm fairly over some of the quirks of thenarration, i.e. the repetition of the joke about how 'it wouldn't bethe last time Bilbo wished for home', etc.

What has been yourfavorite part of Bilbo's journey so far?

I remember liking the visit with Beorna lot when I first read the book, but Riddles in The Dark is somasterful that it has to be my favorite. (Up until the spider battle.Yes! KILL THE SPIDERS!)

On Chapters 7-12:

There's some thought that Gandalfpurposely didn't prepare the dwarves and Bilbo very well, that muchof their trials is him testing them. What do you think of thattheory, and what do you think he's testing/preparing them for?

That's just silly. Gandalf just doesn'treally care whether or not they succeed. He's a wizard, not a guardian angel. He does them a few favors,and he doesn't want them to die, but in the scope of the shit that heis dealing with, whether Thorin gets to be King under the Mountain iskind of small potatoes.

What did you think of Bilbo's escapeplan from the Wood-Elves?

I can't remember not knowing this partof the book, so it's always just been 'the way it happens' and Ienjoy it. (Side Note: For those of you who are familiar with the Lordof the Rings Movies but are only now reading The Hobbit, you remember the King ofthe Wood-Elves they're escaping from? FYI: He's Legolas' dad.)

Whatdid you think of Smaug? how does he compare to other fantasy noveldragons you've come across?

Smaug is the grandaddy, the big,badass, cocky, vain classic. There's a lot of that fairy taleinfluence in his portrayal, which sometimes is left out of otherliterary dragons.

How in the world is a hobbit and a bunch ofunorganized dwarves who have hardly any weapons going to defeat anangry and greedy dragon??

Spoilers. ;)

Arrows of the Queen

2011-08-20T08:30:00.001-04:00

This post is part of a week-long series of reviews of Mercedes Lackey novels. See intro post for more information.

Arrows of the Queen

Mercedes Lackey, 1987

For today's article, the first novel ever published by Ms. Lackey.

Premise: Talia's only pleasure in the hard life on her border community was the bits of reading time she stole while doing mindless chores. But it's her thirteenth birthday, and her family says that it's time for her to be married. She flees the prospect of the dead-end life she's seen her sisters fall to, only to run into an extraordinary animal called a Companion, who chooses her above all others to return to the capital with him and be trained as a Herald, one of the psychically gifted lawgivers of the Kingdom of Valdemar. She needs to learn quickly who to trust, because there is a conspiracy afoot, and she'll need to survive long enough to complete her training if she hopes to help her Queen.

A young person who is emotionally abused and taken advantage of by her close-minded family, until she is chosen to be whisked away to a new life, where she will learn to use her special gift, make friends and allies, and find purpose. I want to go back and time and put this delightful book at the top of all of those “Liked Harry Potter? Read this!” lists, especially for girls.

It has some weaknesses in the prose here and there; it is definitely a first book that was written in the 80's. The edition that I have wasn't typeset carefully, and the typos mark this as a true “mass market paperback”.

Nevertheless, this charmed me today just as much as it did when I first read it as a young teen.

I think I like Talia more than I did when I was young, because her blend of quiet bravery and empathic skills used to be less interesting to me than more flashy magic. Now that I'm a little older and perhaps wiser, I can appreciate her simple strength.

Also, I think Valdemar is a good example of building a fantasy kingdom to lend itself to strong female characters. Social attitudes are fairly modern among the protagonists, but not universal in the world, and every country or race has both its shining stars and its bad apples. That feels plausible to me: it doesn't present the world as gender-neutral sunshine and rainbows, nor does it exaggerate harsh gender roles such that any interesting woman needs to be a “rebellious warrior” type.

There are some wrinkles in the magic system and the history of the world that get ironed out or refined in later novels, but this is a strong start. Mercedes Lackey is still writing in this world, and the series has grown to over 30-odd books and collections.

Super Bonus Points: A First Novel, published in 1987. Target audience: Young women. Establishes in an off-hand way that gay people exist and are even historic figures, on page 2. PAGE 2. Not to mention the significant lesbian supporting characters who are teachers at the Collegium. I have said before, and I continue to say that I credit the Valdemar novels with teaching a generation of pre-teen girls from the suburbs that it is not okay to discriminate against those who are homosexual.

4 Stars – A Really Good Book

Check out Arrows of the Queen (used copies are dirt cheap) on Amazon.com

The Blue Fairy's Bookshelf

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part 1

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #23, Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Promise, Part One

The Big Time

Daughter of the Centaurs (Centuriad, #1)

Comics Briefly: Batman #5, The Legend of Oz: The Wicked West #2, Wonder Woman #5

Double Star

Comics Briefly: Batgirl #5, Batwoman #5, Demon Knights #5, Wolverine and the X-Men #4

They'd Rather Be Right

Fireborn: Embers of Atlantis

Comics Briefly: Action Comics #5, Animal Man #5, Huntress #4, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #4, Swamp Thing #5

The Demolished Man

Announcement: Hugo Project

2011 Retrospective

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #22, Princeless #3

Paranormality: Why we see what isn't there

Holiday Comics! JLA #60, DCU Infinite Holiday Special, Larfleeze Christmas Special

Comics Briefly: Batman Incorporated: Leviathan Strikes!, Batman #4, Wonder Woman #4, Wolverine and the X-Men #3

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

A Clockwork Christmas

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #21, Batgirl #4, Batwoman #4, Demon Knights #4, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3

Hogfather

Top Ten Tuesday - Childhood Favorites

The Nutcracker and the Mouse King

The Last Ringbearer

Comics Briefly: Legion Secret Origin #2, Mouse Guard: The Black Axe #3, Princeless #2

Hercule Poirot's Christmas

LOTR Read-Along! Return of the King Part Three

Comics Briefly: Princeless #1, Wolverine and the X-Men #2

Snuff

Thud!

Night Watch

LOTR Read-Along! Return of the King Part Two

Blue Beetle: Shellshocked, Road Trip and Reach for the Stars

Comics Briefly: Batman #3, Supergirl #3, Wonder Woman #3

The Silent Tower

LOTR Read-Along! Return of the King Part One

Comics Briefly: Batgirl #3, Batman: The Brave and the Bold #13, Batwoman #3, Demon Knights #3, Huntress #2, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #2

The Unfinished Song: Taboo

LOTR Bonus: TOYS!

Comics Briefly: Action Comics #3, American Vampire #20, Animal Man #3, Swamp Thing #3

A Shadow in Summer

LOTR Read-Along! The Two Towers Part Three

Comics Briefly: Avengers Academy #20, Legion: Secret Origin #1

Pirate King

LOTR Read-Along! The Two Towers Part Two

Follow Friday Oct 21

Comics Briefly: Batman #2, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1, Supergirl #2, Wonder Woman #2

Top Ten Tuesday - Books I Read Because of the Title or Cover

Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Lost Adventures

LOTR Read-Along! The Two Towers Part One

Comics Briefly: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #5, Batgirl #2, Batwoman #2, Demon Knights #2

The Mermaid's Madness

Comics Briefly: Action Comics #2, Animal Man #2, Huntress #1, Swamp Thing #2

Encrypted

LOTR Bonus: Photos of Books

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #19, Avengers Academy #19, Justice League Dark #1, The Fury of Firestorm #1

Elric: The Stealer of Souls

LOTR Read-Along! Fellowship Chapters 16-End

Follow Friday Sept 23

Comics Briefly: Batman #1, Cloak and Dagger #2, Darkwing Duck #16, Supergirl #1, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #2, Ultimate X-Men #1, Wonder Woman #1

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Everyone Else Has Read

The Rogue (The Traitor Spy Trilogy, Book Two)

LOTR Read-Along! Fellowship Chapters 9-15

Comics Briefly: American Vampire: Survival of the Fittest #4, Batwoman #1, Demon Knights #1, Resurrection Man #1

Top Ten Tuesday - Books Recommended by Another Blogger

Stray (Touchstone 1)

LOTR Read-Along! Fellowship Chapters 1-8

Follow Friday September 9

Comics Briefly: Animal Man #1, Batgirl #1, Justice League International #1, Static Shock #1, Stormwatch #1, Swamp Thing #1

Review: Ready Player One

Comics Briefly: Justice League #1

DC's New 52: Final pre-launch opinions

Top Ten Tuesday - Fall TBR List

Batgirl: Batgirl Rising and The Flood

The Hobbit Read-Along Part 3

Comics Briefly: American Vampire #18, Batman: Gates of Gotham #5, Superman Beyond #0, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles #1

Top Ten Tuesday - Books You Never Reviewed

Ember and Ash

Unnatural Issue